Today in Chemistry History graphic on Rosalind Franklin and the structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin was a chemist and  X-ray crystallographer whose work was instrumental in the discovery of the structure of DNA. She missed out on a Nobel Prize for her work as they are not awarded posthumously. Photograph 51 is an X-ray diffraction image of DNA taken during Franklin’s research. It was crucial in developing a model of DNA and confirming its double helical structure.
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Rosalind Franklin was born on this day in 1920. Her contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA were key; she took photos of DNA’s structure using X-ray crystallography, and it was these photos that informed the work of Watson and Crick’s model of DNA’s structure. Sadly her contributions were not fully recognised until after her death, and she did not share in the award of the Nobel Prize for the discovery of DNA’s structure as the prize is not awarded posthumously.

This graphic takes a quick look at the structure of DNA, and how Franklin’s photos helped inform it. There’s more detail on the structure in this graphic devoted to the topic.

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