Rosalind Franklin and the DNA Double Helix

VocaCast: Any Topic, Explained · Oct 11, 2026 · 4m

Photograph 51 was never supposed to reach Watson and Crick, yet it became the image that won them a Nobel Prize. Rosalind Franklin was a structural biologist who used X-ray crystallography to study DNA. This technique required meticulous control of experimental conditions and mathematical analysis of the resulting images.

Sources:

[1] Rosalind Franklin: A Crucial Contribution — Learn Science at Scitable

[2] Photograph 51, by Rosalind Franklin (1952) — Embryo Project Encyclopedia

[3] Dr. Rosalind Franklin — Rosalind Franklin University

[4] Rosalind Franklin and the Advent of Molecular Biology…