Google Doodle Honors Rosalind Franklin, Renowned Female Scientist

Google paid tribute to Rosalind Franklin, the legendary female scientist, in today’s Google Doodle. Franklin would have been 93 today.

Franklin worked as a biophysicist, contributing invaluable insight on the subject of DNA that continues to play a role in the current understanding of DNA structure. In fact, it was Franklin who used x-ray technology to capture an image of DNA. That image, better known as Photo 51, went on to be the foundation for the theory of DNA’s double helix structure.

Although Franklin’s photo was integral to the discovery of DNA’s double helix, James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins are the scientists most associated with the finding. They went on to receive the Nobel Prize for their contribution to science in 1962. Four years earlier, Rosalind had died of ovarian cancer at the age of 37.

Franklin graduated with a degree in chemistry from Newnham College, Cambridge before moving to Paris and working at the State Central Chemical Laboratory Services. It was at this job that Franklin became familiarized with the technology that would later provide never-before-seen details of DNA structure – x-ray diffraction.

Following her five-year stint in Paris, Franklin returned to London to work at King’s College’s biophysics unit. There, she took the x-ray of DNA that would lead to Watson and Crick’s seminal article “Nature,” which only mentioned Franklin in a footnote.

Get Uinterview's FREE iPhone App For Daily News Updates here.

Get the FREE Uinterview iPad app here and watch our videos anywhere.

For More Gooogle Doodle News:

Summer Solstice Celebrated With Google Doodle

_{Saul Bass, Graphic Artist, Honored In Google Doodle Video Sequence}

_{Cesar Chavez Honored In Google Doodle On Easter}

_{Douglas Adams, 'Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy' Author, Honored In Google Doodle}

_{Google Doodle Celebrates Valentine's Day, Honors George Ferris}

_{Mary Leakey, British Archaeologist, Honored With Google Doodle}