Untangling Rosalind Franklin’s Role in DNA Discovery, 70 Years On
This account became a parable of poor scientific behavior, leading to a backlash against Dr. Watson and Dr. Crick and turning Dr. Franklin into a feminist icon. It also set off a long-running debate among historians: Precisely what role did Dr. Franklin play in the discovery of the double helix, and to what extent was she wronged?
In a new opinion essay, published in Nature on Tuesday, two scholars argue that what transpired “was less malicious than is widely assumed.” The scholars, Matthew Cobb, a zoologist and historian at the University of Manchester who is writing a biography of Dr. Crick, and Nathaniel Comfort, a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins University who is writing a biography of Dr. Watson, draw upon two previously overlooked documents in Dr. Franklin’s archive.
These documents, they say, suggest that Dr. Franklin knew that Dr. Watson and Dr. Crick had access to her data and that she and Dr. Wilkins collaborated with them. “We should be thinking of Rosalind Franklin, not as the victim of DNA, but as an equal contributor and collaborator to the structure,” Dr. Comfort said.
Other experts said that the new documents were interesting but did not radically change the narrative; it has long been clear that Dr. Franklin played a key role in the discovery. “What this does is add a little new evidence to a trail, which leads directly to Franklin’s being a major participant,” said David Oshinsky, a historian of medicine at New York University.
And regardless of what Dr. Franklin knew about who had access to her data, the new documents do not change the fact that she did not receive adequate recognition for her work, some historians said.
Source: The New York Times
