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The Franklin family
Rosalind Franklin played an integral role in discovering the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
Scientist Rosalind Franklin would have been “totally amazed” that 100 years after her birth she was commemorated, according to her sister.
She is best known for her pioneering work that guided Francis Crick and James Watson to discover the secrets of DNA.
But much more of his short career was spent unraveling the molecular structures of carbon and viruses.
Jenifer Glynn, 90, said she would like her career to “encourage girls to science.”
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The Franklin family
Rosalind, second from right, holding the hand of her sister Jenifer, who would follow her sister to Newnham College, Cambridge
Rosalind Franklin was one of the five brothers who grew up in London.
He secured a place at Cambridge University to study chemistry in 1938, and recorded his life there through weekly letters home.
Mrs. Glynn, who lives in Cambridge, said: “She always wanted proof of things; although she was a good off-roader at school, it was clear from the start that she was going to be a scientist.”
“It didn’t feel in the family or at the university that it was strange for a woman to study science.”
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Their x-ray images helped James Watson and Francis Crick decipher the double helix form of DNA.
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James Watson and Francis Crick with their model of part of a DNA molecule in 1953
He spent most of his time at Newnham College studying, but once World War II broke out, he described the uninterrupted nights he spent in the university’s air raid shelters and his shift as a fire guard.
Ms Glynn said that before her 37-year-old “prematurely sad death” in 1958, she worked in biology, chemistry and physics, with a “focus on research that mattered to society.”
“I think she would be totally surprised by the fact that 100 years after her birth there are such commemorations,” she added.
“You would also have been surprised by the idea of becoming a feminist icon, it was not on your mind at all.”
“She was aware that it was more difficult for women, but she was not trying to open a path, although nothing would have pleased her more than the fact that perhaps she encourages girls to science.”
Newnham College and the Churchill Archives Center in Cambridge, which owns its scientific papers, commemorate the centennial of his birth on July 25.
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The Franklin family
Rosalind (right) on vacation with her brothers and father.
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