Preview

Rosalind Franklin Research Paper

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3692 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Rosalind Franklin Research Paper
Washington State University | Rosalind Elsie Franklin | A story that needs to be told |

| 2/3/2013 |
Biology 499

* Introduction
Have you ever asked yourself, exactly what is DNA and why is it so important? DNA stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid and is found in every living thing. We inherit DNA from our parents, half from our mothers and half from our fathers. DNA is made up of sugars, bases, and phosphates and comes in the structure of a double helix which looks like a spiral staircase (Craig Freudenrich, 2007). DNA is found in the genes which are housed in chromosomes. Humans have 46 chromosomes; however, the amount of chromosomes varies from specie to specie. Except in the case of identical twins, DNA is unique
…show more content…
A.-I. (2013). Rosalind Franklin. Retrieved from Jewish Virtual Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/franklin.html
Franklin, s. (2003, April 24). BBC News. Retrieved from My aunt, the DNA pioneer: http://www.physics.org/explorelink.asp?id=3131&q=DNA&currentpage=1&age=0&knowledge=0&item=3
Glenn, J. (2012). My Sister Rosalind Franklin. New York: Oxford University Press.
Goldman, J. (2003). The (Jewish) Mother of DNA. The Jewish Week.
Gosling, F. R. (1953). Molecular Configuration in Sodium Thymonucleate. Nature 171, 740-741.
Grace. (2006, April 1). Rosalind Franklin. Retrieved from Blogspot.com: http://rosalindfranklin.blogspot.com/2006/04/rosalind-elsie-franklin-1920-1958.html
Kass-simon, G. (1993). Women of Science: Righting the Record. First Midland Books.
Lewis, J. J. (n.d.). Definition of Feminism. Retrieved 2012, from About.com- Women 's History: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/a/feminism.htm
Maddox, B. (2003). Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA. New York: Harper Collins.
Nobelprize.org. (2013, March 8). The Nobel Foundation - Statutes. Retrieved from Nobelprize.org:
…show more content…
(1974). The Path to the Double Helix. London: MacMillan.
Piper, A. (1998). Rosalind Franklin. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 23:151-154. Retrieved from About.com- women 's history.
Sayre, A. (1975). Rosalind Franklin and DNA. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
The Biography Channel Website. (2013, March 10). Rosalind Elsie Franklin. Retrieved from Biography.com: http://www.biography.com/people/rosalind-franklin-9301344.
Watson, J. (2012, November 8). The Turn of the Screw: James Watson on The Double Helix and his changing view of Rosalind Franklin. (M. Koerth-Baker, Interviewer) Retrieved from http://boingboing.net/2012/11/08/the-turn-of-the-screw-james-w.html
Watson, J. D. (1968). The Double Helix: a personal account of the discovery of the structure of DNA. New York: Simon &

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    I found the readings from the textbook Renaissance Women in Science about Barbara McClintock and Rosalind E. Franklin to be very interesting to read about. Neither Franklin or McClintock had the full support of their families; McClintock’s mother not fully understanding her and Franklins father wanting her to be “normal” and get married and only work when necessary, or getting the notoriety that they both deserved in their fields of study. I was thrown off; a little confused as to why McClintock was so interested in corn and not something more intriguing but her study of corn led her to discovering how to identify and number the ten different chromosomes in the maize plant, and she later discovered the “jumping gene” which was also found in…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    * O.T. Avery – important because their research on DNA/protein after Griffiths experiment on the transforming factor, was decisive enough for Watson to believe that DNA was the genetic material (not protein as was believed)…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Deoxyribonucleic acid, also known as DNA contains genetic information and is found within the chromosome of human cells. After countless hours of research on thethis fairly new phenomenon it was Sir Alec Jeffereys of England who developed a technology that was based solely on DNA in 1985. DNA plays a major role in technology, it is used for identification, and it has been a leading source in identifying biological samples such as saliva, urine, blood, semen and hair. All of these samples have been extremely helpful with government, federal, state and even private agencies…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many don’t know that this information is false. DNA was actually first discovered in the late 1860s by Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss chemist. He found a new compound he called “nuclein” from the nuclei of cells. This is now called nucleic acid, which is the “NA” part of DNA (deoxyribo-nucleic-acid). Earlier, a monk Gregor Mendel conducted a series of experiments with peas, and “his observations turned out to be closely connected to the finding of nuclein,” according to the “Noble Prize” website. He proved that certain traits we inherited in different “packages”, what we now call genes. Watson and Crick were attempting to discover the structure of DNA in the early 1950s at Cambridge University, racing against Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at King’s College. Wilkins and Franklin used an experimental approach to the study, according to nobelprize.org, “using x-ray diffraction to understand the physical structure of the DNA molecule.” Most scientists studying the structure of DNA were using similar methods. However, Watson and Crick used stick-and-ball models, physically building them, to “test their ideas on the possible structure of DNA.” They wasted much time and work at one point, after being misled from Watson remembering a few specific numbers from Franklin’s speech about her new discoveries on DNA. Later, they took a crucial step, and suggested that “the molecule was…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Because Watson and Crick were the ones who lead the research to answer the DNA problem, they were awarded credit for the discovery even though there were many other scientists who contributed their skills and findings to the discovery. After Maurice and Rosalind Franklin, another scientist at Maurice's lab, read the paper that was to be sent to Nature, they objected that a scientist in their lab, referred to as Fraser, needed to be referenced because he "had considered hydrogen-bonded bases prior to [their] work." (128) Even if a scientist did not get equal credit for a discovery, they were given credit as far as the information that they contributed goes. A big exception in the case of giving out due recognition in the history of The Double Helix is that Rosalind's contribution to the discovery was not acknowledged nearly as much as it should have been, most likely because of the fact that she was a woman and science was a boy's club at the…

    • 1602 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    6. “Buried Treasure” Wilkins and Watson become reacquainted over lunch at Crick’s flat. Wilkins sees science as a communal activity and resents Franklin’s secrecy; he subconsciously lets the “Rosy” nickname slip. (Watson later received some scorn from fellow scientists for using the name in his 1968 book, The Double Helix, which many found demeaning to her memory.) Watson goes to King’s in search of Franklin, looking first in the men-only common room, then waiting for her at her basement laboratory. He finds her rude and uncommunicative. He attends her lecture and misinterprets her comment about the amount of water in DNA. Franklin is working mainly on the dry, crystalline “A form” rather than the wet, longer “B form.” Watson socializes increasingly with Wilkins, and Wilkins welcomes the collegial relationship that he lacks with Franklin. Word comes down that the prominent American chemist Linus Pauling has begun working on DNA, much to Watson…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In science, genes and how they reproduce was one of the greatest mysteries. That was until February 28th, 1953 when scientists James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, Raymond Gosling, and Maurice Wilkins made breakthroughs in the discovery the double helix structure of DNA. The story of their fame and success is portrayed in the movie The Race for the Double Helix. In this film, the scientists use two different techniques in their research of DNA. In the end, the double helix is discovered when Watson and Crick read a thesis that was written by Franklin. The thesis was written after Franklin had studied X-ray photographs of genes. Watson and Crick used a detail in the thesis over-looked by both Franklin and Maurice to complete a scientifically…

    • 1189 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It all led to March 17th, 1953 when Watson and Crick successfully solved the structure of DNA. They were able to prove the water content of the fibers and the placement of the phosphate sugars were on the outside of the helix. Also realized the the outside chains must go up and the others go down (Watson 206). Upon completion of their paper stating their findings, they shared it with a Sir Lawrence who “enthusiastically expressed his willingness to post it to Nature with a strong covering letter” (Watson 220). Franklin had lost a race in which she did not know she was competing (McGrayne…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    (2009). ‘The bright sparks who illuminate the history of science’ The Times, 30 November 2009, p. 18.…

    • 1217 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Kemeny, John G. A Philosopher Looks at Science. Princeton, New Jersey; D Van Nostrand Company Inc. 1959.…

    • 2407 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nucleic Acids Study Guide

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Francis Crick and James Watson → Acclaimed for the discovery of the double helix structure and used Rosalind Franklins Work…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rosalind Franklin

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages

    X-ray crystallography helped determined the three dimensional structure of DNA when Franklin returned to England. She became the first person to find the molecule¡¯s sugar-phosphate backbone while working with a team of scientists at King¡¯s College in London. Unfortunately, leadership misunderstandings and personality conflicts depreciated Franklin¡¯s effectivness in the laboratory. Maurice Wilkins, the laboratory¡¯s second in command, returned from a vacation expecting Franklin to work under him. Franklin came to the laboratory with the understanding that she would be researching alone. While Franklin was direct and decisive, Wilkins tended to be alluding and passive-aggressive. As Franklin made further advances in DNA research, Wilkins secretly shared her findings with the famous duo of Watson…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Response: Once Rosalind Franklin had arrived at King’s College, London, she was immediately confronted by the ‘glass ceiling.’ To start, fellow colleague Maurice Wilkens felt threatened by Franklin’s avid approach to research and refusal to share said research before she had made a conclusion. Wilkens approached the of the director of King’s College, Sir Lawrence Brag (who was the youngest Nobel Prize winner at the time), several times requesting that Franklin be dismissed due to the fact that he ‘hadn’t completed any research since her arrival, because he felt she thwarted his research.’ Franklin was also barred from meeting in the ‘men only’ parlor to discuss and spend time with her fellow scientists—due to her gender. Her reasons behind her hesitation to sharing her research was due to the fact that she felt her fellow scientists—namely James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkens—wanted to ‘play games for fame and fortune, without doing the work’ by the research-proof method she so cherished. It was baffling to Franklin that these so called ‘men-geniuses’ were credited and such when they seemed to be…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Double Helix Summary

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A Humble and Shallow Review of The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA by James D Watson…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    References: Chalmers, A. F. (1982) W hat is this thing called science: an assessment of the nature and status of science and its methods. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.…

    • 2756 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics