Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin was born in 1920 in London, England. Rosalind Franklin's background is described as Anglo-Jewish; a prominent London banking family. Growing up, the family was affluent — merchant-banker father; an affluent, civic-minded household. Her Photo 51 was shown to competitors without her knowledge; the Nobel came after her death — to others.

Born

1920 · London, England

Roots

Anglo-Jewish; a prominent London banking family

Family

Affluent

Merchant-banker father; an affluent, civic-minded household.

Education

Newnham College, Cambridge (chemistry)

Started with

A Paris lab

Learned X-ray crystallography at a French state laboratory — the technique behind Photo 51.

Affiliations & societies

None documented.

Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

1. 1938 · age 18
   Cambridge

   Chemistry at Newnham; wartime doctoral work on the structure of coal.

2. 1947 · age 26
   Paris

   Masters X-ray diffraction at the Laboratoire Central; by her account, her happiest working years.

3. 1951 · age 30
   King's College London

   Assigned to DNA; an ambiguous role definition sours relations with Maurice Wilkins from the start.

4. 1952 · age 31
   Photo 51

   With Raymond Gosling — the clearest X-ray image of DNA's B form yet taken.

5. 1953 · age 32
   Shown without her knowledge

   Wilkins shows the photo to James Watson; her unpublished data also reaches Crick. The double-helix paper follows within months, hers printed third in support.

6. 1953 · age 33
   Birkbeck

   Leaves for virus-structure work that becomes field-defining in its own right.

7. 1958 · age 37
   Dies of ovarian cancer

   The 1962 Nobel goes to Watson, Crick, and Wilkins; the prize is not awarded posthumously.