Light on a Dark Lady - Anne Piper

 

https://youtu.be/nxbhWYS0uXI

Roasalind Franklin (1920-1958), who had an untimely death due to cancer in 1958, a forgotten heroine, 'The dark lady of DNA'in the history of science, was a British chemist and an X-ray crystallographer.  She had her substantial contributions to the understanding of the molecular structure of 'DNA (deoxyribonucleic Acid), RNA (Ribonucleic Acid), viruses, coal and graphite.  Anne Piper, a close friend of Rosalind Franklin  and a renowned intellectual, talks about the gender bias that affected Rosalind Franklin's work and recognition in 'Light on a dark lady', especially, how her contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA were totally unrecognized during her life in the male dominated field.

'Light on a dark lady' was actually the lecture that Anne Piper presented at Wimbledon Literary and scientific society.  In 1932, they became friends at St. Paul's Girls School.  Then she had her research on gas phase chromatography in Cambridge.  It was Adrienne Weil who supported and helped her then.  Adrienne Weil enabled Rosalind to crystallize both her political ideas and religious ideas.  Then Rosalind did her research on the structure of, Carbons in BCURA (The British Coal Utilization Research Association).  Then in 1947, a friend of Adrienne, Marcel Mathieu, having understood her outstanding scientific ability appointed her at the Laboratoire Central in Paris.  Though she lived in a cramped quarters for four years then, she was very happy during her time in France.  She didn't experience any sex prejudice in Paris.

However, as she was greatly tempted to use the X-ray diffraction technique on biological substances, she decided to carry on her research at King's College, London.  Unfortunately, at King's then the Senior Common Room (SCR) was out of bound to women.  When she got her appointment to do her research in an X-ray diffraction unit, Maurice Wilkins, the second in Command in the laboratory and who was already working on DNA structure, was on holiday.  However, soon she felt that she had been excluded from the SCR and so she became submerged in her work and appeared unapproachable.

Actually, research on heredity was on the verge of taking a great leap forward then; much work had already been done.  It appeared that determining the actual structure of the DNA molecule would be fundamental, although at this stage the connection between DNA and heredity was only a theory lacking any form of proof.  It was not clear whether further research should be based on X-ray diffraction work alone or combine such an approach with model building.  In 1953, Rosalind discovered the two forms, A-form and B-form of the helix, using the laborious Patterson Technique.  Then she had an excellent photo of the B-form and handed  it to Wilkins. Wilkins showed Watson the photo that Rosalind had taken.  This helped Watson and Crick to discover the secret of life using the technique of model building, while Rosalind's approach that was based on her X-ray diffraction.  When Watson and Crick's paper on the Double Helix published in Nature in 1953, Rosalind left King's and joined at Birkbeck and continued her work on the tobacco mosaic virus that Prof. Bernal had started in 1935.  With in 4 1/2 years she produced 17 papers.  Aaron Klug, her ideal working partner helped till her death in April 1958.

In 1962, the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology was awarded to Crick, Watson and Wilkins.  However there is a blue plaque outside her flat and in Drayton Gardens along with a plaque on the wall at King's, Commemorating all those who were involved in the DNA work, with Rosalind as the fourth name.  Moreover, in the epilogue of "Double Helix", James Watson talks about Rosalind's sorting out of the A and B forms.  Thus, Anne Piper narrates how gender bias has affected Rosalind's work and recognition and how she has navigated the challenges.

-----Thulasidharan V