Rosalind Elsie Franklin
Rosalind Franklin, a British physical scientist, is an essential figure in the field of Biochemistry for her works that brought us closer to understanding the DNA and as a pioneer of X-ray diffraction. Franklin was a British citizen with a keen interest in physical chemistry and science in general. While she was a physical chemistry major with interest in X-ray crystallography, her work is what led to the discovery of DNA, RNA, viruses, graphite, and coal (García-Carmona, 2018) . Working in Paris as with Jacques Mering, Franklin’s research called, ‘the secrets of life,’ led to the unearthing of the arrangement of DNA structure.
Franklin’s Background
Rosalind was born in the 1920s into a noble Jewish house in London. Her intelligence and focus in science made her create a niche for herself in the field. She was educated in elite schools, including in London, where her knowledge in science was increased to make her a significant figure. Rosalind studied chemistry at Newnham College, Cambridge, and where her quality performance saw her join an elite workforce in the UK ( Davis & Strom, 2017) . After my undergraduate, I mainly worked as a research assistant where her career was further shaped.
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As a research assistant, Rosalind gained interest in the sponginess of coal and made it a topic for her doctoral studies. With her thesis,' The Physical Chemistry of Solid organic colloids with particular reference to coal' Rosalind acquired a degree in physics in 1945 ( Poston, 2016) . Early in 1946, the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de I’Etat in Paris appointed franklin to work for them. Working with the crystallographer, Jacques Mering allowed Franklin to learn X-ray diffraction and made a niche for herself in the area. She wrote her first paper entitled ‘The secrets of Life,’ on the DNA structure.
Details of Franklin’s Work
Franklin started working on DNA after her appointment as a research associate in the Biophysics Unit of the Medical Research Council. The original work that Frankling was appointed to do at the council was on X-ray diffraction of oils and solids to separate them from solutions ( Jensen et al., 2019) . However, with new developments in the field of DNA and Franklin being the only one at kings with experimental knowledge on fractional diffraction, she was shifted from lipids and introduced DNA fibers. As an expert in DNA diffraction working with Gosling, Franklin employed a novel beautiful focus X-ray tube in conjunction with a micro camera for the adjustment of focus to carefully view DNA ( Davis & Strom, 2017) . However, critics argue that the microcamera had been ordered by Maurice Wilkins who was in charge of fractional diffraction before Franklin at King's College.
Franklin drew upon her knowledge in physical chemistry to improve the focus of the X-ray tube and acquire better results. Franklin proficiently manipulates the critical hydration of the specimen used in the detraction. From this experiment, Franklin presented the result in her 1951 lecture at King's College. She posited that DNA must have a tightly packed helical structure with two, three, or four co-axial nucleic acids chains each and phosphate groups located near the outside ( Jensen et al., 2019) . Her confidence and ability to effectively present the results made most of the people in her lecture believe.
After the first discovery, franklin teamed up with Maurice Gosling to continue the study of the DNA structure. Franklin and Gosling discovered that when wet, the DNA would be long and thin while short and fat when dry ( Thompson et al., 2018) . They named the two forms of DNA ‘A' and ‘B.' However, with intense rivalry between Gosling and Franklin, the two were separated, leaving Franklin to continue the DNA work. Franklin chose to stay with the DNA type A while Wilkins was left to go with the B type. While their work was separated, the X-ray diffraction pictures that they took is of high value in the history of DNA. The image captured by Gosling, Photo 51, has been dubbed as among the most beautiful X-ray diffraction photo taken ( Davis & Strom, 2017) .
Franklin was responsible for the making of the conclusion that the two DNA forms had two helices. While the DNA type B was approved to be helical by 1951, she was not convinced that the A form was until 1953 ( Thompson et al., 2018) . In her paper on the structure of DNA mailed, Franklin withdrew a previous erroneous observation that refuted the helical structure of the second form of DNA to show provide proof using data. The results of Franklin's research, including the data collected, are paramount to the study of DNA after 1953.
Franklin not only contributed to the current understanding of the virus. While the significance of Franklin's input in the knowledge of the DNA structure has often being ignored, her work in viruses is of importance (Lawrence, 2016) . After finding it hard to stay at the King's College, Franklin to Birkbeck College where she focused on RNA virus. At Birkbeck College, Franklin began working on the tobacco mosaic virus to improve our current understanding of its structure building on her knowledge about DNA and research by Watson.
Working with James Watt from the National Coal Board, Franklin did work on the RNA viruses affecting such crops as pea, tomato, and potatoes. Latter, Franklin would join an American post-graduate student, Donald Caspar and write a paper on the precise locality of RNA particles in TMV ( Davis & Strom, 2017) . This boosted her career and ability to contribute to the field of biotechnology. Later, in the Us, Franklin worked on a project to help understand the poliovirus.
In conclusion, Franklin is a vital figure in today's understanding of the organization of the DNA. Despite the negative appellation that undermined her discovery, her work is crucial to how we understand the DNA today. Moreover, she contributed to the study of viruses and their structures, including their RNA.
References
Davis, B., & Strom, E. T. (2017, August). Rosalind Franklin: Her Pathway to DNA. In ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY (Vol. 254). 1155 16TH ST, NW, WASHINGTON, DC 20036 USA: AMER CHEMICAL SOC.
García-Carmona, A. (2018). Improving Pre-service Elementary Teachers’ Understanding of the Nature of Science Through an Analysis of the Historical Case of Rosalind Franklin and the Structure of DNA. Research in Science Education , 1-27.
Jensen, R. E., Parks, M. M., Mann, B. W., Maison, K., & Krall, M. A. (2019). Mapping Nature’s scientist: The posthumous demarcation of Rosalind Franklin’s crystallographic data. Quarterly Journal of Speech , 1-22.
Lawrence, P. A. (2016). Francis Crick: A Singular Approach to Scientific Discovery. Cell , 167 (6), 1436-1439.
Poston, S. (2016). The women that Genetics Forgot. Microreviews in Cell and Molecular Biology , 1 (2).
Thompson, J., Braun, G., Tierney, D., Wessels, L., Schmitzer, H., Rossa, B., ... & Dultz, W. (2018). Rosalind Franklin's X-ray photo of DNA as an undergraduate optical diffraction experiment. American Journal of Physics , 86 (2), 95-104.
