Photo 51 Reveals DNA Structure

The first exceptionally clear X-ray diffraction image of DNA's B form was Photo 51, produced in 1952 through research led by British chemist Rosalind Franklin. Her doctoral student Raymond Gosling captured the image while working under her supervision at King's College London. Maurice Wilkins later showed it to James Watson without Franklin's knowledge or permission, and Watson and Francis Crick used its features alongside other evidence to construct their double-helix model. The 1962 Nobel Prize was awarded to Watson, Crick, and Wilkins, while Franklin had passed away in 1958, and the prize committee did not acknowledge Gosling's contribution.

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