Rosalind Franklin
Full Name-
Rosalind Elsie Franklin
Born-
25 July 1920
Died-
16 April 1958
- Known For-
- Franklin is best known for her work on the X-ray diffraction images of DNA, particularly Photo 51, while at King's College, London, which led to the discovery of the DNA double helix for which James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962.
- Awards and honours
- 1982, Iota Sigma Pi designated Franklin a National Honorary Member.
- 1992, English Heritage placed a blue plaque commemorating Franklin on the building in Drayton Gardens, London, where she lived until her death.
- 1993, King's College London renamed the Orchard Residence at their Hampstead Campus as Rosalind Franklin Hall.
- 1993, King's College London placed a blue plaque on its outside wall bearing the inscription: "R. E. Franklin, R. G. Gosling, A. R. Stokes, M. H. F. Wilkins, H. R. Wilson – King's College London – DNA – X-ray diffraction studies – 1953."
- 1995, Newnham College, Cambridge opened a graduate residence named Rosalind Franklin Building[224] and put a bust of her in its garden.
- 1997, Birkbeck, University of London School of Crystallography opened the Rosalind Franklin Laboratory.
- 1997, the asteroid discovered in 1997 was named 9241 Rosfranklin.
- 1998, National Portrait Gallery in London added Rosalind Franklin's portrait next to those of Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins.
- 1999, the Institute of Physics at Portland Place, London, renamed its theatre as Franklin Lecture Theatre.
- 2000, King's College London opened the Franklin–Wilkins Building in honour of Franklin's and Wilkins's work at the college.
- 2001, the American National Cancer Institute established the Rosalind E. Franklin Award for women in cancer research.
- 2002, the University of Groningen, supported by the European Union, launched the Rosalind Franklin Fellowship to encourage women researchers to become full university professors.
- 2003, the Royal Society established the Rosalind Franklin Award (officially the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award and Lecture) for an outstanding contribution to any area of natural science, engineering or technology. The award consists of a silver-coated medal and a grant of £30,000.
- 2003, the Royal Society of Chemistry declared King's College London as "National Historic Chemical Landmark" and placed a plaque on the wall near the entrance of the building, with the inscription: "Near this site Rosalind Franklin, Maurice Wilkins, Raymond Gosling, Alexander Stokes and Herbert Wilson performed experiments that led to the discovery of the structure of DNA. This work revolutionised our understanding of the chemistry behind life itself."
- 2004, Finch University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School, located in North Chicago, Illinois, USA changed its name to the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. It also adopted a new motto "Life.
- in Discovery", and Photo 51 as its logo.
- 2004, the Gruber Foundation started the Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award for two female geneticists from all over the world. It carries an annual fund of $25,000, each award is for three years, and selection is made by a joint committee appointed by the Genetics Society of America and the American Society of Human Genetics.
- 2004, the Advanced Photon Source (APS) and the APS Users Organization (APSUO) started the APSUO Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award for young scientists who made contributions through the APS.
- 2005, the DNA sculpture (donated by James Watson) outside Clare College, Cambridge's Memorial Court incorporates the words "The double helix model was supported by the work of Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins."
- 2006, the Rosalind Franklin Society was established in New York by Mary Ann Liebert. The Society aims to recognise, foster, and advance the important contributions of women in the life sciences and affiliated disciplines.
- 2008, Columbia University awarded an honorary Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize to Franklin, "for her seminal contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA".
- St Paul's Girls School established the Rosalind Franklin Technology Centre.
- 2012, the bioinformatics education software platform Rosalind is named in honour of Franklin.
- 2012, The Rosalind Franklin Building is opened at Nottingham Trent University.
- 2013, Google honoured Rosalind Franklin with a doodle, showing her gazing at a double helix structure of DNA with an X-ray of Photo 51 beyond it.[248][249]
- 2013, a plaque was placed on the wall of The Eagle pub in Cambridge commemorating Franklin's contribution to the discovery of the structure of DNA, on the sixtieth anniversary of Crick and Watson's announcement in the pub.
- 2014, the Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology was established by Biotechnology Industry Organization in collaboration with the Rosalind Franklin Society, for an outstanding woman in the field of industrial biotechnology and bioprocessing.
- 2014, the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science unveiled a bronze statue of Franklin, created by Julie Rotblatt-Amrany, near its front entrance.
- 2014, the Rosalind Franklin STEM Elementary was opened in Pasco, Washington, the first science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) elementary school in the district.
- 2014, the University of Wolverhampton opened its new laboratory building named the Rosalind Franklin Science Building.
- 2015, Newnham College Boat Club, Cambridge, launched a new racing VIII, naming it the Rosalind Franklin
- 2015, the Rosalind Franklin Appathon was launched by University College London as a national app competition for women in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine).
- 2015, a high performance computing and cloud facility in London was named Rosalind.[260]
- 2016, the British Humanist Association added the Rosalind Franklin Lecture to its annual lecture series, aimed to explore and celebrate the contribution of women towards the promotion and advancement of humanism.
- 2016, the Rosalind Franklin Prize and Tech Day was held on 23 February in London, organised by University College London, i-sense, UCL Enterprise, the London Centre for Nanotechnology and the UCL Athena Swan Charter.
- 2017, DSM opened the Rosalind Franklin Biotechnology Center in Delft, the Netherlands.
- 2017, the Historic England listed the tomb of Frankin under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as a "special architectural or historic interest". Official description states that "the tomb commemorates the life and achievements of Rosalind Franklin, a scientist of exceptional distinction, whose pioneering work helped lay the foundations of molecular biology; Franklin’s X-ray observation of DNA contributed to the discovery of its helical structure."
