Rosalind Franklin: Discovery is in her DNA

I have chosen to talk about Rosalind Franklin for this project. She was the person who developed the experiment that produced an image for DNA. However, two men, Watson and Crick, published findings and ultimately won the Nobel Prize for essentially her work and she died too young to advocate for herself. More than a decade ago, people our age would not have heard of her at all in their science classes. Luckily, we are now fed a revision to this story of Watson and Crick. Most moderately progressive classes and teachers will include the narrative of Franklin not receiving the credit deserved.

However, we cannot stop there. In conventional science class, her part in the discovery of DNA structure has to be a straightforward fact, rather than an addition or part of a description of controversy. This is an important consideration because we need to normalize the role of women in science. In the context of struggles against sexism, Franklin’s controversy is relevant, but in the science classroom, this is not the history that should be presented. Young girls should see her as a great science that can make groundbreaking discoveries right alongside the men.