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Ingratitude Was All These People Got For Doing the Right Thing

Khalid Elhassan August 28, 2023 32 min

Ingratitude - Ignaz Semmelweis washing his hands in chlorinated lime water before operating — Ignaz Semmelweis washing his hands in chlorinated lime water before operating. NPR

This Woman Played a Key Role in the Discovery of DNA’s Structure & Only Received Ingratitude

Nowadays, the double-helix is widely known as the representation of DNA, even by many who don’t grasp just how DNA works. Until 1953, however, DNA’s structure was a mystery. To the extent that most people associate DNA with any names, what comes to mind are usually James Watson and Francis Crick, the duo who first published a paper that modeled the DNA double-helix structure. Forgotten and ignored is a third name: Rosalind Franklin (1920 – 1958), a British scientist whose data was stolen by Watson and Crick.

In 1951, Franklin began to study DNA. She soon discovered not only its density, but also that it existed in a helical structure. She eventually made X-rays that showed that DNA was structured as a double helix. Ingratitude was all she got. A photo of her work was shown to Watson and Crick, without her knowledge.

In 1953, they announced their discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure in a paper that gave rise to modern molecular biology. They eventually conceded that their discovery would have been impossible without Franklin’s data, but didn’t bother putting her name on their paper. She died of ovarian cancer at age 37, her contribution to one of science’s greatest discoveries largely forgotten.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.