Franklin's DNA Photo Legacy Story

British chemist and X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin produced the first crucial X-ray diffraction image of DNA, known as Photo 51, while conducting research at King's College London in 1952. Without Franklin's knowledge or permission, the image was shown to American molecular biologist James Watson, who, together with British physicist Francis Crick, used the information to develop the double helix model of DNA. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, while Franklin, who had died in 1958, received no Nobel recognition for her contribution.

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