In the last decade or so, STEM occupations (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) have experienced a rapid growth. Despite the fact that skills in these subjects are much sought-after, unfortunately women are still underrepresented in these sectors resulting in a large gender gap. Although this is not due to lack of capabilities on the female side, several factors impact this situation, one of which is lack of encouragement from an early age due to stereotype threat.
There have been countless women throughout history who were leaders in these fields and who have fought endlessly to break down gender barriers. Women who helped shape the scientific environment and who today are an inspiration to all those young girls who take up STEM subjects at school. Rosalind Franklin lived at a time when women in STEM careers, didn’t have opportunities to make a name for themselves, yet she persevered and was actually the first person who discovered the DNA structure. Here is her story.
Who is Rosalind Franklin?
Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born on July 25th, 1920, in Notting Hill, London, England. From a very young age, she was considered to be an exceptionally intelligent child. Her inclination towards science subjects showed immediately and in fact by the age of 15 she knew that she wanted to become a scientist. At that time, women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers suffered from the fact that women were mainly employed to assist male scientists.
This did not discourage Rosalind from pursuing what she wanted and after graduating from school and college, she went on to earn a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Cambridge University. In 1946, Rosalind was assigned to work at the Laboratoir Centre des Service Chimiques de l’Etat in Paris, where she had the opportunity to work with crystallographer Jacques Mering. Mering taught her crystallography and X-ray diffraction. She applied techniques to DNA fibers and worked her way up to be the first person who actually discovered the DNA structure. Her research was so intense that it also evolved in discovering that there are two forms of DNA: Form A, which she named the ‘Dry Form’, and form B, the ‘Wet Form’.
DNA, which stands for ‘deoxyribonucleic acid, are long molecules that each person has and that are essential for our bodies to function properly. DNA instructions are passed from parent to child, that is, half of a child’s DNA is roughly originated from the father’s side, and the other half from the mother. DNA molecules are arranged in a form of a spiral, more like a twisted ladder, an image that is used widely today to represent these molecules.
During her research, Rosalind created a machine, which was used to take different X-ray diffraction pictures, and which later led to identifying this DNA structure. Indeed, it was the picture that is now known as Photograph 51 which provided clear evidence of this structure. It is interesting to mention that this photo took her 100 hours of X-ray exposure to be finalised!
In January of 1951, Rosalind started to work as a research associate in the biophysics unit at King’s College London. It is said that the director of the company stole Photograph 51 from here, and along with other scientists, used the photo as an evidence to support their DNA model and took credit for the work that Rosalind had done on her research.
Unfortunately, in 1956 Dr Franklin found out that she had ovarian cancer, however, she continued her works and research throughout the following two years. Although she had multiple operations, she succumbed to this illness on April 16th, 1958, at the age of 37. She continued her work up until several weeks prior to her death.
Rosalind is today an inspiration to the female gender for several reasons, one of which is that she broke all the stigma about women working in STEM careers.
If you are inclined towards a career in one of the many STEM fields that exist, we encourage you to be inspired by Dr Franklin and thrive towards your passion.
