Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin (July 25, 1920 - April 16, 1958) was a British chemist and crystallographer whose research was fundamental to understanding the structure of DNA. Using X-ray diffraction techniques, she captured the famous Photograph 51, a critical image that revealed the helical pattern of DNA. Her work was essential for James Watson and Francis Crick to propose the double helix model, though her contributions went unrecognized for many years. She also conducted important studies on the structure of the tobacco mosaic virus and the polio virus. Today, she is acknowledged as a key figure in the history of molecular biology.
Quotes
- Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated.
- Science, for me, gives a partial explanation for life. In so far as it goes, it is based on fact, experience and experiment.
- Your faith rests on the future of yourself and others as individuals, mine in the future and fate of our successors. It seems to me that yours is the more selfish.
- In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall succeed in our aims: the improvement of mankind.