If you have half an hour to spare, you may want to listen to the BBC Radio 4’s version of the new article by Matthew Cobb and Nathaniel Comfort on DNA structure (with special emphasis on Rosalind Franklin’s work). If you click on the screenshot below, you can have a free listen to the show. Cobb and Comfort are joined by Angela Creager, a biomedical historian working at Princeton. First, the Beeb’s summary:
James Watson and Francis Crick, who detailed the double-helix structure of DNA in 1953, are perhaps two of the most iconic scientists of the 20th Century. Yet the story of how they made their incredible discovery is perhaps equally famous, with a notorious narrative suggesting that they only identified the structure after taking the work of Rosalind Franklin and using it without her permission.
Now, 70 years after the discovery of DNA’s structure, it is perhaps time to rewrite the tale.
New evidence has now been unearthed, in the form of an overlooked news article and an unpublished letter, that shows that Franklin was truly an equal contributor to the discovery, and Watson and Crick were not as malicious as previously assumed.
New evidence has now been unearthed, in the form of an overlooked news article and an unpublished letter, that shows that Franklin was truly an equal contributor to the discovery, and Watson and Crick were not as malicious as previously assumed. Together with Matthew Cobb of the University of Manchester, Nathaniel Comfort from Johns Hopkins University, and Angela Creager of Princeton University, Gaia Vince discusses this tantalising tale and finds out more about how this discovery could bring a whole new twist to the story of DNA.
Presenter: Gaia Vince Producer: Harrison Lewis Assistant Producer: Jonathan Blackwell
Click below to listen:
Excellent!
Just heard this while I was busy in the kitchen – a really interesting programme.
On this topic the movie ‘Life Story’ is well worth viewing with some great actors. I used to show it to my pupils in my Biology class, as an introduction to DNA. One got the impression that Franklin was exploited, though the evidence for this was not presented.