Latest / Children's Hour / 3.29.25 - Part 1

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3.29.25 - Part 1 · Children's Hour

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to realize Turn Story Hour as a
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reminderized a reading service intended for people who are blind
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or of other disabilities that make it difficult to read
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printing material. Today we will be reading from various books
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on famous women. Your reader today is Diane. Our first
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book is Remembering Roslin Franklin Rosenalin Franklin in the Discovery
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of the double Elicks structure of DNA. It was published
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by Christi Altovino Books of Little Brown and Company. It
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has a copyright year of twenty twenty four and the
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author of the book is Tania Lee Stone. Dear reader,
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this true story doesn't really have a happy ending. Why
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should I start by telling you that? Because sometimes a
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person can do something extraordinary and not get the win.
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They don't become famous or arenterprise or live happily ever after.
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Sometimes they never even find out they made a difference.
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Often when we hear about something that's never been done before,
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it's about the people who got their first to land
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on the moon, cure a disease, or in lack of mystery.
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But nobody achieved such great things alone. There are usually
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other people whose hard work made change possible. Stories about
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those people are just as important and except to us
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to remember them. This story is about remembering Roslyn Roslin
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Elsie Franklin was born in nineteen twenty and was the
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second oldest child in a big, bustling Jewish family in London, England.
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They were a talkative, a lot, outspoken and honest, arguing
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good naturally about all manner of things. Roslin are simply
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enjoyed beach holidays together and visiting their grandparents' country house,
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rowing down hills and chasing chickens. Roslyn was especially fascinated
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with the dark room, swirling crystal chemicals in a tub
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with special paper, making photographic images come to life. At
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this time, it wasn't common for girls to think about
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college and careers, but Roslyn's parents expected just as much
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from their daughters as their sons. Although she's stressed about
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homework and exams, Roslin threw herself into everything she did, equally,
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excelling at tennis and hockey, as geography and German. While
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she loved solving puzzles and problems, Roslin did not have
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a nick for music. One cannot be good at everything.
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She found math and science quite exciting, and by age
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fifteen chemistry and physics were particular passions. That same year,
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Roslyn's parents took her to Norway, sparking her a lifelong
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love for climbing mountains. Within a few years, Roslin was
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ready to get on with becoming a scientist, even though
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there were very few women in science. This didn't stop her.
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She set her sights on the University of Cambridge and
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scored higher than anyone else who took the chemistry test.
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Roslin dove into her studies and joined a math society.
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After graduating and doing extra year of research, she looked
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for work. There was a war going on, and Roslyn
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wanted to use her skills to help. Gas Masks kept
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people from breathing in dangerous chemicals from bombs. The filters
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and the mask used coe to absorb the chemicals, but
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some types of CO worked better than others. Roslin's job
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was to figure out why her work made gas masks
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safer by showing how different kinds of CO behaved at
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different temperatures and pressures. Rosslyn had a zest for life.
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Even her idea of relaxing was vigorous. Cooking turned into
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hosting dinner parties. Going for a by ride could mean
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a fifty mile jaunt and to climb a high peak
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with a friend was her idea of heaven. In the
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summer of nineteen forty six, Roslyn went to France to
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climb the Alps. I could wander happily in France forever,
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she wrote. Lucky for her, she was soon offered a
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research job in Paris. Having spent time just outside Paris
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before college, Rosslyn spoke excellent French. At the French lab,
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Roslyn continued stunning cos and carbons. She became an expert
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at X ray crystialography, using X rays to look at
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adams and mollicules tens of thousands of times smaller than
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anything the human eye can s. With this technique, she
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could discover the invisible structure in cite, tiny specks of matter,
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which became to her as real and solid as billiard balls.
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An X ray crystal grographer shoots invisible X rays through
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a crystal that bounce off the crystal's atoms or defract
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and create a pattern on a photographic plate. At the time,
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scientists had to measure each spot in the diffraction pattern
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by hand and use math to figure out how the
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atoms fit together in three dimensions. The material had to
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be prepared and positioned just right. Roslin was so talented
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at this that one of her few scientists remarked on
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her golden hands. Women scientists were not as rare in
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France as they were in England. They were also treated
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with more respect and paid the same as men. Roslin's
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fast and an animated way of talking was admired. Her
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colleagues found her quite smart. The fashion there was also smart,
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and Roslin was enthralled. One day she visited a laboratory
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sporting the newest look from famous designer Christian Dior. Although
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she loved living and working in Paris and having travel
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adventures with her friends, Roslin missed her family. There was
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also trailblazing work Haffney. Back in London, scientists were using
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X ray, crystolography and biological substances instead of only minerals
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like carbon. When a position came up at King's College,
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Roslyn took it and started studying DNA. DNA stands for
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do expanolic acid. It's the Janette code inside every cell
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of every living thing. It's what makes you you, and
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DNA holds the instructions for any organism to grow, survive,
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and reproduce, whether it's a plant, a puppy, a platypus,
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or even a person on the planet. Back then, scientists
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weren't convinced that DNA carried the genetic code, and it
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wasn't understood how hereditary information was passed from parents to children.
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In other words, why you might look very much like
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one of your parents. Scientists needed to learn more about
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DNA's structure. James Watson and Francis Criek were studying DNA,
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and nearby University of Cambridge Linus Polling was doing the
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same in California. Roslyn was suddenly part of an unofficial
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race to figure out what would become known as the
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secret of life. Roslyn understood that she had been hired
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to direct the X ray diffraction work on DNA. She
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was given an assistant, reign And Gostling, who was talented,
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hard working, and cheerful. Maurice Wilkes had been the lead
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DNA scientist at King's College, and he was under the
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impression Roslyn was hired to be his assistant. Roslyn and
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Maurice got off on the wrong foot and stayed there,
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never sorting out the misunderstanding. While King's College did not
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feel friendly to her, Roslyn did not want to waste
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time dealing with personality problems. She had better things to
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do with her camera. She got to it soon. Her
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X ray diffraction images revealed incredible results. Roslin discovered the
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DNA created different patterns depending on whether it was wet
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or dry. All the images scientists had taken up until
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then had blurred the two forms together, making the photographs
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difficult to interpret. When Rosslyn presented her discovery at a lecture,
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James Watson was in the audience. Watson was doggedly determined
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to be the first to figure out the secret of DNA.
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Before working with Francis Krik, Watson had tried to meet
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with Maurice Wilkins to find out what King's College was doing,
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but Wilkins had turned him down. Krick, however, was od
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friends with Wilkins. Within a week of Roslin's talk, Krik
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invited the King's College team to see the model, and
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he and Watson had built an approached Rosalind did not support.
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She believed in relying on experiments in analyzing data. Roslyn
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took one look at the model and solved their errors,
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which she quickly pointed out. Back in her lab, Rosalin
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kept creating beautiful X ray diffraction images, but the best
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was yet to come. In May if nineteen fifty two,
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she set up her camera. The image she captured was superb,
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and it contained an enormous amount of information that would
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become the key to understanding the structure of DNA. She
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labeled it simply Photo fifty one. But despite her desire
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to solve this mystery, Roslyn could no longer stand how
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unfriendly the environment felt at King's College. As a woman,
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she wasn't even welcome in the senior common room or
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many of the staff eight lunch. Soon Roslin lined up
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another job. She would know herself. She would throw herself
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into a new project, just as she had done earlier.
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Before leaving, she wrote up everything she had discovered as
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part of her lab's end of the year progress report.
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Now here's where the story takes a turn for the worse.
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There are many different accounts about how Maurice Wilkins ended
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up with Roslin's Photo fifty one, but what we do
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know is that Wilkins showed it to Watson and that
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Roslyn was never consulted the incident, I saw the picture
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of my mouth fell open and my pulse began to race.
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Watson later wrote, the ex pattern clearly indicated DNA had
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the shape of the helics spiral. Watson and Crick then
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got hold of the End of the Year report. There
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in Roslin's section was her description of a single building
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block of DNA, along with her carefully calculated measurements. Roslin's
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data told Krik that DNA must be pair of spirals,
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one running up, the other down, creating a double helix.
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The double helic structure would allow DNA to split down
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the middle and make copies of itself. Within weeks, Watson
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and Krik completed are correct model of DNA, fully cracking
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the code of the secret of life. And so, dear reader,
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as I warned, this true story does not have a
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particularly happy ending. Roslyn never learned that Watston Crik couldn't
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have done it without her Photo fifty one. She died
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in nineteen fifty eight, four years before Watson and Crick
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won the Nobel Peace Prize along with Wilkins for the
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discovery of a double hills So how do we know
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this story? And a twist of fate in nineteen sixty eight.
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It was Watson himself who picked people's interests after writing
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a book about discovering the structure of DNA. In it,
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he talked about Roslin. Imagine a scientist writing about one
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of his colleagues. This way clearly Rosy, a nickname she
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did not like, had to go or to be put
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in her place, and there was no denying she had
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a good brain. If she could only keep her emotions
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under control, there would be a good chance that she
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could really help. And she was not unattractive. It might
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have been quite stunning had she taken even a mild
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interest in clothes. Of course, you've already learned that she
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liked fashion, so this common is not only obnoxious but untrue.
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Watson's words were noticed. People started looking into her story,
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and they learned all about Roslin's real row. Just as
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the mountains called her to climb. The beauty of the
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work itself drove Roslin to pursue her research. In the end,
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she made a stunning contribution to one of the most
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important discoveries in modern science, and could not have been
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done without her. And that is why we must remember Roslyn.
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Our next book is titled Daredevil, The Daring Life of
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Betty Skeleton. It was published by Simon and Schuster Books
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for Young Razors, and it is an Abe Paula Weisman book.
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It has a copyright year of twenty thirteen and it
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was written by Megan McCarthy. While most girls play with
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their dolls, Betty Skeleton play with her metal plane. It
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was early nineteen thirties and airplanes were still very new
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and exciting. Naval airplanes busted over the top of Betty's house,
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flipping and turning. Betty sat on her backsteps and imagined
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that she was in the pilot's seat. Bett and her
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family lived in Pensacola, Florida, which was near the sea.
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Luckily for Betty, was also near a giant Navy base.
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On Sundays, Betty's mom and day had drove her to
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view the Navy airplane subclose. That's when the family met
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in seeing Kenneth Wright introduced them to the joy of flight.
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Betty yearned no more. She wanted to touch the sky.
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When she was eight, she nailed a letter to all
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the major airplane manufacturers. She later said that it read,
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my father wants to buy an airplane. Please send me
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all the information the pamphlets poured in, Betty studied them hard.
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The age of twelve, her father boosted her up, popped
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her into a plane and waved goodbye. Betty was flying
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by herself. It wasn't quite legal then, so I couldn't
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tell anybody, Betty later recalled. But it was amazing. As
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Betty grew big, or so did her dreams. When most
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kids turned sixteen, they get a license to drive a car,
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Betty got one to fly a plane. She even made
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the newspaper. Betty didn't just want to fly for fun.
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She wanted to make it her career. Although Betty wanted
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to be a commercial pilot, she couldn't. Only then could
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be commercial pilots in the late nineteen forties, I wanted
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very much to fly in the Navy, Betty remembered. But
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all they would do is laugh when I asked what
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was Betty to do. Betty soon learned how to become
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a stuck pilot. She preferred to call what she did
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arabatic flying because there was an art to it. She
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soon became famous for the inverted ribbon cut. Betty would
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swoop towards the ground while upside down and cut a
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ribbon with her propeller amazing. Betty never flew alone. Her dog,
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Little Tinker, was always by her side. Betty also flew barefoot.
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She liked for her feet to feel free. The age
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of twenty two, Betty fell in love with a very
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special plane, the smallest in existence. At first, the owner
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didn't want to sell it to her because, as Betty
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put it, she was a woman, but Betty's charm won
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him over. It's just the ship for a half pint
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like me, Betty said, I don't weigh one hundred pounds,
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even when I'm soaking wet. She added, I didn't just
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sit in that little airplane I wore. If I sneezed,
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it sneezed with me. She named the plane Little Stinker.
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In nineteen fifty one, Betty set out to break an
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altitude record. It took some convincing to borrow the right
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plane for the job, because again, she was a woman,
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but the plane's owner relented and Betty set off. Betty
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and the plane reached a record height of twenty nine
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thousand fifty feet, which is higher than the top of
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Mount Everest. The temperature out saw I was fifty three
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below zero. My feet darn near froze to death, Betty said.
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Betty retired from flying in the early nineteen fifties. It
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was getting to the old stuff, Betty said, But she
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didn't relax for long. Betty got into her first race
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car in nineteen fifty four, and off she drove into
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a new career. During Betty's racing days, she brought her
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friend's sideclops jet powered car and raced on Utah's Bonnieville's
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Salt Flats. The land was a crust of white salt
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that blew into Betty's face as she raced. This didn't
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stop Betty. The car got airborne with me. Towards the
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end of the run, Betty remembered fondly she broke the
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woman's record with the speed of three hundred and fifteen
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points seventy four miles per hour. Betty had broken records
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in the air and on the ground. She then moved
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onto the water became the first female coat jumper. The
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surprise that she couldn't swim. Betty was always up for
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a good challenge. She conquered the sky, the land, and
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the water. What would be next? Then she got a call,
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because Betty had broken so many records and was good
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at so many things. She was invited to be the
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first woman to train with mel astronauts, and they were
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going to space. The group was called Mercury seven. Previously,
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only animals had gone into outer space. No man or
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woman had yet done. So this was Betty's chance. Golly,
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that would be the most fantastic thing in the world.
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Of course she'd go. Could Betty be the one? Could
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she fly with? The Mercury seven Look magazine put Betty
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on the front cover. America was waiting. Betty did all
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sorts of training. She took the tilt table test to
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check her blood pressure. She spun in the vernor chair
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until it would make most people throw up. You know,
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Betty didn't know how to swim. She trained underwater to
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simulate weightlessness. This was me during one of the water tests,
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which I was pleased didn't last very long, she said.
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Betty was raising herself to rocking into space. The other
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astronauts welcomed her. They nicknamed her seven and a half.
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When it was time for the Mercury seven to suit up,
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to put on their silver suits and their giant glass helmets,
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Betty was left behind. She wasn't one of the Mercury seven.
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NASA wasn't ready to send a woman to space, not
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just shit, but that didn't matter to Betty. She had
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proven that women could do it as well as men.
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Women can fly aeroplanes, they can drive cars really fast,
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they can go to space, and they did. In nineteen
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sixty three, Russian Valentina Tereshavkova became the first one and
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civilian in space. In nineteen eighty three, Sally Rye was
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the first American woman in space. Thanks to Betty's skeleton,
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their trips were possible. Betty owned and drove a shiny
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red Corvette until the day she died. I just liked
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to go fast, Betty said, and she did. Our next
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book is titled May Makes a Way, The True Story
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of May Reeves had an history Maker. It was published
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by Crown Books for Young Readers and has a copywriter
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of twenty twenty two. It was written by Olgabie Muloso
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Ruda Perkushevich. Roughly skirts and puffy sleeves, fussy frills and
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rows of ribbons. Grandma Lula dressed little May all fancied
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like a tiny doll. May didn't want to be a doll.
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She wanted to go outside and play in the dirt
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and moost fancy clothes. May told a beautiful story. She
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offered hope during hard days. By the earthly nineteen hundreds,
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when May was a girl, slavery had officially ended in
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the United States, but new segregation laws kept black people
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apart and unequal. Instead of liberty and justice, black citizens
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like May and her family faced violence and oppression. Little May,
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in her ruffles and ribbons, brought joy in the midst
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of much suffering. May's small hometown was in the segregated
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South Vadelia, Georgia did not have many opportunities for black
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families to live their best lives and do what they dreamed.
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But as May grew, she made her own ways to
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have fun. At school, May wrote plays, and she was
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also the director in Star. She designed and sewed fancy
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clothes for dolls made made joys but Storkane May's parents
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died when she was only fourteen, and she and her
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younger siblings went to live with her grandmother. The nineteen twenties,
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lingering turmoil from World War One brought destruction to the
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world stage, and the jazz age was not jumping for everyone.
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Fat Black families faced more hardship and pain, and children
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like May had to work like grown ups. One brother
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shined shoes, another worked as a babysitter for a white family.
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May was in charge of her younger sisters and brothers,
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so she learned how to take good care of other people.
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Like many young black women of the South, in the
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nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties, May became a teacher. She
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worked in a one room schoolhouse with a pot belly stove.
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She was only a teenager. Some of her students were
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very young, and others were much older, even older than May,
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but she taught them all. May was also a newspaper writer,
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entertaining readers with stories of fancy and fun parties and
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events in the community. She found ways to celebrate the
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beauty of her neighbor's spirits, even when there was ugliness
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and hurt in their lives. During those days, thousands of
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black people fled the persecution and cruelty of their segregated
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Southern hometowns for integrated Northern states. May was one of
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those who resisted the voices of oppression that said there
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was no way out. May decided to make a way
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with ideas in her head and those doll sewing skills
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in her hands. She traveled by train from Georgia all
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the way north to Chicago, Illinois. At the Chicago School
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of Millionaire, people made many kinds of head coverings, and
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a lot of people needed them. In those days, hats
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on heads were as common as shoes on thief. But
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even in segregated cities, black people lived unequal lives. Black
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women were often treated as though they were invisible. When
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a black woman went out wearing hat and gloves, there
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was a chance she'd be shown more respect. Were a
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way for these queens to be seen, shining a light
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on the dignity they always had. May used wire, fabric, steam,
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and most of all, her imagination to cred crowns. She
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made sassy hats, classy hats, high head pieces, and low caps.
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She used bows and bobbles, created ruffles and bustles. Each
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hat was an original, Like May herself. The Chicago School
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of Millionery, black students and white students learned and worked
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together side by side. When May went back down south
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to Segregrade Town and segregated school, she remembered the northern
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ways she dreamed of one day making a wide open
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way for her side by side in her life. All
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year round, every day, May kept on murnying up north
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and teaching down south. She got married and headed child
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William called Sonny, but when her husband died in an accident,
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they had to figure out how to take care of
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her son alone. One of her older brothers lived a
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north in Philadelphia made this to install black people from
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small southern towns living big Northern dreams. She decided to
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pack her high hopes and make a new way with
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their son in the city of Brotherly Love. There, May
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worked in the shop, helping ladies by glamourus get ups, dresses, purses, shoes,
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and jewelry. I like to make them pretty, she said. May.
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I also learn how to run a business, finding supplies
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and refilling stock, managing people, and decorating the store windows.
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When the shoppers found out about May's headtopping masterpieces, they
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all wanted a bit of her magic, so she started
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making hats to sell. Fun hats with feathers, fancy hats
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with flowers, and everything in between. A lady could bring
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an old hat with a brim, and May would transform
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it into a new, twisty turban I felt like an artist,
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said May velvet progate, satins and silks. She mean hats
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for a trip to the grocery store, for a fancy party,
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for any occasion or time of day. May at Philadelphia
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was famous. More and more ladies came from all over
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for one of May's original crowns, and her business grew
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and grew. May still wanted to make her own way.
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That is all that we have time for today. We
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will finish this story next time. So this concludes our
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story hour for today. Please join us next time as
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we will read more stories, fables and fairy tales. Thank
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you for listening, and please stay tuned for the Wexton Hai,
26:39
a leader on RADIOI