Rosalind Franklin Double Helix

Improved Essays
The Double Helix is the shape of DNA. It’s a lot like a twisted ladder; with A’s, T’s, C’s, and G’s as the rungs. The way that they all fit together makes it the shape of a double helix. That’s interesting and all, but the question is who is the real discover? The Double Helix was discovered by Rosalind Franklin, but she didn't understand its importance and true meaning, so all the credit goes to James Watson and Francis Crick. The Double Helix was founded by Rosalind Franklin. In the article The Francis Crick Papers: The Discovery of the Double Helix, 1951-1953 it states that, “Her evidence demonstrated that the two sugar-phosphate backbones lay on the outside of the molecule, confirmed Watson and Crick's conjecture that the backbones formed a double helix, and revealed to Crick that they were antiparallel.” The same article also says, “Franklin's superb experimental work thus proved crucial in Watson and Crick's discovery.” This shows that although Rosalind Franklin found the evidence, Francis Crick was the one who actually discovered what it’s true importance was. …show more content…
In the article The Francis Crick Papers: The Discovery of the Double Helix, 1951-1953 it shows that, “Watson and Crick's use of Rosalind Franklin's crystallographic evidence of the structure of DNA, which was shown to them, without her knowledge, by her estranged colleague, Maurice Wilkins, and by Max Perutz.” The article A REVOLUTION AT 50; 50 Years Later, Rosalind Franklin’s X-Ray Fuels Debate it says, “Rosy, of course, did not directly give us her data,” Dr. Watson wrote. “For that matter, no one at King's realized they were in our hands.” These quotes show how Franklin’s work was exploited by her colleagues, helping to boost Watson and Crick’s

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