• Rosalind Franklin was born in July of 1920.  She graduated from Cambridge University and in 1951 went to work as a research associate for John Randall at King's College. A chemist by training, Franklin had made original and essential contributions to the understanding of the structure of graphite and other carbon compounds even before her appointment to King's College.

• In 1952 not much was known about the DNA, including its exclusive role as genetic material. No one knew what the DNA molecule looked like, or what sort of function it played in the cell.

• Rosalin Franklin alone was given the task of elucidating DNA's structure, by John Randall.

• The technique with which Rosalind Franklin set out to do this is called X-ray crystallography. With this technique, the locations of atoms in any crystal can be precisely mapped by looking at the image of the crystal under an X-ray beam. By the early 1950s, scientists were just learning how to use this technique to study biological molecules.  After complicated analysis, she discovered (and was the first to state) that the sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA lies on the outside of the molecule. She also elucidated the basic helical structure of the molecule.

 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

• The Earth's atmosphere is thick enough that virtually no X-rays are able to penetrate from outer space all the way to the Earth's surface.

• Many things in space emit X-rays, among them are black holes, neutron stars, binary star systems, supernova remnants, stars, the Sun, and even some comets.

• X-rays are an important part of the earth as well as the atmosphere.

• Rosalind Franklin's work helped to soldify the importance of x-rays not only in the atmosphere but also here on Earth in living organisms.

created by:
Nisana Andersen
 

References:

http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2002/oct/darklady/

http://www.accessexcellence.org/AB/BC/Rosalind_Franklin.html

http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/xrays.html

http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/EMSpec/EMSpec2.html