File:Rosalind Franklin.jpg

The "forgotten heroine"

Rosalind Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid)...

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_Franklin

Franklin is best known for her work on the X-ray diffraction images of DNA while at King's College London, particularly Photo 51... which led to the discovery of the DNA double helix for which Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962. Watson suggested that Franklin would have ideally been awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Wilkins but, although there was not yet a rule against posthumous awards, the Nobel Committee generally did not make posthumous nominations.

The first episode of a PBS documentary serial, DNA, which aired on 4 January 2004 as "The Secret of Life", centres on and features the contributions of Franklin. Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, it features Watson, Wilkins, Gosling and Peter Pauling (son of Linus Pauling).

What is the force at the heart of life?

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8DDenDpiSU

○