Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin played a key role in the advancements of molecular biology and chemistry (1). She received a degree in physical chemistry, and during World War II, Rosalind contributed to the war effort by studying the chemistry of coal and carbon. This dedication to science and society led Rosalind to obtain a PhD (2). Following this, she began working on studying the structure of DNA with X-Ray diffraction at King’s College (1). With this research, Rosalind took the very first picture of the skeleton of DNA , and this lead her to hypothesize that DNA was a helical shape. When she left King’s College, she was not permitted to take her notes and work on DNA with her. Her work paved the way for Wattson and Crick to later publish the proposition that DNA was a double helix.
References:
Arrigoni R, Porro R, Dioguardi M, Mastrangelo F, Cazzolla AP, Castellaneta F, Charitos IA, Cantore S, Covelli M. 2022. Behind the double helix: The complicated life of Rosalind Franklin. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 10(F):758–762. doi:10.3889/oamjms.2022.10705. http://dx.doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2022.10705.
Percec V, Xiao Q. 2021. The legacy of Rosalind E. Franklin: Landmark contributions to two Nobel Prizes. Chem. 7(3):529–536. doi:10.1016/j.chempr.2021.02.020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2021.02.020.