Rosalind Franklin’s Nobel Prize

Hi there! We are Rita and Leonor. When we started this project, we knew we wanted to choose a woman from the STEAM fields, more specifically science, since we are studying science and technology.

During our research, we came across the story of Rosalind Franklin and decided to choose her because of her discoveries and studies used in the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA.

When analyzing her career, we realized that her work with X-ray diffraction, particularly the famous “Photo 51,” was crucial to the development of the chemical model of the double helix structure of DNA, later presented by James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the structure of DNA. However, Rosalind, who had already passed away, never knew how important her work was and never received proper credit for her research, as the Nobel Committee did not award Nobel Prizes posthumously. Therefore, due to her scientific importance, we believe that the best way to honor Rosalind would be to award her a Nobel Prize in her own right.