Tonight on a special #MitoMonday, we briefly highlight the life and works of everyone's favorite scientist, Dr. Rosalind Franklin. #DNA #WomenInSTEM #LateNightWithTheRutterLab 
Dr. Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born on July 25 1920 in Notting Hill London. She attended @Newnham_College at @Cambridge_Uni in 1938 to study Chemistry, & graduated in 1941. 2/
During WWII, Dr. Franklin did war-related graduate work with the British Coal Utilization Research Association. She studied the porosity of coal using helium to determine its density. She earned her PhD in 1945. bit.ly/2ZO4LCM 3/
In 1946, Dr. Franklin moved to Paris, where she worked Jacques Mering, who taught her X-ray diffraction. Dr. Franklin coined the terms graphitising and non-graphitising carbon. She published several landmark coal-related papers, still cited today. bit.ly/3joilVt 4/
In 1951, Dr. Franklin was offered a 3-yr research scholarship at @KingsCollegeLon. As the only experienced experimental diffraction researcher at the university at the time, she was directed to work on DNA fibers & began working on it with her grad student Raymond Gosling. 5/
Late that year, using crude equipment that was carefully refined, adjusted and focused by Dr. Franklin, they were able to obtain 2 sets of high-resolution images of crystallized DNA fibers. A dry "A" form and a wet "B" form. This included the now legendary Photo 51. 6/
In 1953, Jim Watson visited Dr. Franklin's lab to convince her to join forces with him to beat Linus Pauling in the race to discovering the structure of DNA. Instead he only succeeded in antagonizing her. 7/
On his way out, Watson stumbled into his old friend Maurice Wilkins, who proceeded to share Dr. Franklin's Photo 51, without her permission or knowledge, with Watson. 8/
Watson immediately recognized the significance of the image, as it clearly depicted DNA as a double helix. He returned to Cambridge to share this information with Francis Crick. And the rest as they say is history. 9/
On April 25 1953, Dr. Franklin, Watson and Crick, and Wilkins published 3 back to back articles describing the structure of DNA in the same issue of Nature. go.nature.com/3eVc3t7 go.nature.com/2WIweE9 go.nature.com/30BD3sa 10/
Later that year Dr. Franklin moved to @BirkbeckUoL where she conducted her seminal and pioneering work on tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). In 1956, Dr. Franklin began her research on polio virus, but was forced to end it due to her health. bit.ly/2BjfKej 11/
Interesting Fact: After Dr. Franklins death, her collaborator and friend Aaron Klug continued her work on polio virus. Klug eventually won the @NobelPrize in Chemistry in 1982. He was also a principal beneficiary in Dr. Franklin's will, receiving her Austin car. 12/
In 1956, Dr. Franklin was diagnosed ovarian cancer. She remained active during her cancer treatment and published 13 papers in 2 yrs. She fell ill again in 1958, and passed away on April 16 1958. She was only 37. 13/
"Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated." - Rosalind Franklin. #MitoMonday #LateNightWithTheRutterLab 14/
