Rosalind Franklin

Ben Kavalec March 29, 2007 Rosalind Franklin

In my opinion, I believe that Rosalind Franklin did not receive enough credit for her contributions towards the discovery of DNA. Franklin took Photo 51, and Watson stole this picture. In my opinion, that is theft, and Watson should have been punished for what he did, but instead he was rewarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Wilkins, Franklin’s colleague and Watson’s good friend, stole the work of Franklin’s. Instead of getting punished, he too was rewarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize. If Franklin was bold enough, she would have left King’s College all before Wilkins stole her work. She not like it at King’s for several reasons: it was segregated between men and women and there was confusion over who was in charge. The confusion of who was in charge was probably the reason Wilkins helped out Watson. Wilkins held a grudge against Franklin that never left. All her colleagues, and other scientists were cruel to Franklin as she was alive. The called her by the name of “Rosy”. Franklin took offense to the nickname she received. Also, the other scientists treated her differently because of the fact that she was a woman, and they believed that science was a man’s field. During her life, no one praised Franklin’s work, except for Klug. During his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize, Klug admired Franklin’s work on viruses. Unlike Klug, Watson, Crick, and Wilkins did not mention Franklin’s work, even though what she did was crucial in the discovery.