Franklin, Rosalind

Franklin, Rosalind

▪ British scientist
in full  Rosalind Elsie Franklin  
born July 25, 1920, London, Eng.
died April 16, 1958, London
 British scientist who contributed to the discovery of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a constituent of chromosomes that serves to encode genetic information.

      Franklin studied physical chemistry at Newnham College, Cambridge, graduating in 1941. She then joined the British Coal Utilisation Research Association, where she contributed to studies that explained the absorption properties of coals. From 1947 to 1950 she worked with Jacques Méring at the State Chemical Laboratory in Paris, studying X-ray diffraction technology. That work led to her research on the structural changes caused by the formation of graphite in heated carbons—work that proved valuable for the coking industry.

      In 1951 Franklin joined the Biophysical Laboratory at King's College, London. There she applied X-ray diffraction methods to the study of DNA. She is credited with discoveries that established the density of DNA, its helical conformation, and other significant aspects.

      From 1953 to 1958 Franklin worked in the Crystallography Laboratory at Birkbeck College, London. While there she completed her work on coals and on DNA and began a project on the molecular structure of the tobacco mosaic virus. She collaborated on studies showing that the ribonucleic acid ( RNA) in that virus was embedded in its protein rather than in its central cavity and that this RNA was a single-strand helix, rather than the double helix found in the DNA of bacterial viruses and higher organisms.

Additional Reading
Anne Sayre, Rosalind Franklin and DNA (1975), is a biography.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • FRANKLIN, ROSALIND ELSIE — (1920–1958), British biophysicist. Franklin was born in London, England, into an upper middle class Jewish family whose ancestors had come to England from Breslau in 1763. Her uncle, sir herbert samuel , was the first British High Commissioner to …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Franklin , Rosalind — (1920–1958) British x ray crystallographer Franklin was a Londoner by birth. After graduating from Cambridge University, she joined the staff of the British Coal Utilisation Research Association in 1942, moving in 1947 to the Laboratoire Centrale …   Scientists

  • Franklin, Rosalind — (1920 58)    British chemist. She studied at Cambridge University. In 1947 she was employed at the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l Etat in Paris. Several years later she worked at Kings College, London and subsequently Birkbeck… …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • Franklin, Rosalind (Elsie) — born July 25, 1920, London, Eng. died April 16, 1958, London British biologist. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, she conducted important experimental work for the coal and coke industries. She later produced the X ray… …   Universalium

  • Franklin, Rosalind (Elsie) — (25 jul. 1920, Londres, Inglaterra–16 abr. 1958, Londres). Bióloga británica. Después de graduarse en la Universidad de Cambridge, realizó trabajos experimentales relevantes para la industria del carbón y del coque. Posteriormente produjo las… …   Enciclopedia Universal

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  • Rosalind Elsie Franklin — Rosalind Franklin (ca. 1956) Rosalind Elsie Franklin (* 25. Juli 1920 in London; † 16. April 1958 ebenda) war eine Biochemikerin und Spezialistin für die Röntgenstrukturanalyse von kristallisierten Makromolekülen. Als Wissenschaftlerin leistete… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Rosalind Franklin — Rosalind Elsie Franklin Rosalind Elsie Franklin (* 25. Juli 1920 in London; † 16. April 1958 ebenda) war eine Biochemikerin und Spezialistin für die Röntgenstrukturanalyse von kristallisierten Makromolekülen. Als Wissenschaftlerin leistete sie… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Rosalind Franklin — Rosalind Elsie Franklin Pour les articles homonymes, voir Franklin. Rosalind Franklin. Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 juillet 1920 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • FRANKLIN — FRANKLIN, English family active in communal, public, and economic life. BENJAMIN WOLF FRANKLIN (1740–1785), a teacher of Hebrew, went to England from Breslau about 1763. His youngest son, ABRAHAM (1784–1854), after spending his early life in… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

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