Moment of Geek.

I watch this show on SyFy called Warehouse 13. Tonight's episode referenced a fictional machine made by the nonfictional scientist duo of Watson & Crick. Most people know that Watson and Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA, but what most people don't know is that they were dirty thieves who took all their research from Rosalind Franklin. The show actually mentioned it! I literally screamed "yay"! She's one of my heroes.





... Just thought I'd share.

LOLOL! YAY!!!

I didn't know WHO discovered the double helix of DNA, so I'm glad that someone gave the right person credit for it! (Or something like that! LOL!)

VickiNumbers wrote:

LOLOL! YAY!!!

I didn't know WHO discovered the double helix of DNA, so I'm glad that someone gave the right person credit for it! (Or something like that! LOL!)

You didn't know who discovered the structure of DNA? Must be a Texas thing.



To be fair, Rosalind Franklin did the research needed to discover it's structure. She had come very close to solving the structure of DNA between 1951 and 1953. Her project consisted of taking X Ray images of DNA.



And by calling Watson and Crick dirty thieves, I didn't actually mean they broke into her lab covertly in the middle of the night to steal her files. Another scientist, Wilkins, was working between both projects and showed Watson and Crick one of Rosalind Franklin's crystallographic portraits of DNA. Once he saw it, he knew what the structure was and published an article in Nature immediately after. Franklin did have a supporting article in the same journal.



However, it is VERY VERY rare that anyone knows the story of Rosalind Franklin and what her contribution to discovering the structure of DNA was. As a result of repeated exposure to x rays, she got cancer and died as a result of her work. I personally think it'd be wonderful if more textbooks and science classes taught about who this woman was.

Theres a great movie on her and the discovery of the structure of DNA that I seem to watch every couple of years in my science classes.

moa wrote:

Theres a great movie on her and the discovery of the structure of DNA that I seem to watch every couple of years in my science classes.

Wow, that's awesome! Well.. not that you've had to watch it so much. But she hardly gets a mention in most text books I've seen, let alone having her included in a lesson plan.

KayLayUh wrote:

moa wrote:

Theres a great movie on her and the discovery of the structure of DNA that I seem to watch every couple of years in my science classes.

Wow, that's awesome! Well.. not that you've had to watch it so much. But she hardly gets a mention in most text books I've seen, let alone having her included in a lesson plan.

yeah, my textbooks haven't mentioned her, I don't think. In biotech my teacher talked quite a bit about her and I watched the movie again in general science class and in biology. Interesting stuff, I'm glad she's finally getting recognition

moa wrote:

yeah, my textbooks haven't mentioned her, I don't think. In biotech my teacher talked quite a bit about her and I watched the movie again in general science class and in biology. Interesting stuff, I'm glad she's finally getting recognition

Do those teachers happen to be female? My female AP Genetics teacher included her in her lesson plan. My male AP Biology teacher did not.