Anne Sayre, the author of the Rosalind Franklin & DNA biography, charged James Watson, writer of the book, The Double Helix of inappropriately representing the image of her close friend, Rosalind Franklin. Sayre's publication supplied seemingly valid proof of Watson's false indications.

To begin with, Watson applied the imformal name of "Rosy" in his book. But in reality, no one had ever dared to refer to Rosalind with this nickname before, neither directly nor indirectly.

Sayre drew a clear distiction between Watson's fictional "Rosy" character and Rosalind Franklin. "Rosy" was the kind of assistance that stood in the way of progress: She wore unattractive clothing, had an unexciting hairstyle, and spoke pessimistically about her work. The character possesed no "feminine" features, and not only released emotional out-pours during her experiments, but often expressed a physically violent tendancy. "Rosy" was obviously hardened by an unfavorable upbringing, then stiffened further by an extensive and unimaginative training in crystallography (or so Watson writes).

Watson created many imaginary qualities for Rosalind, where in fact he knew little about her personallity and family background. Rosalind grew up in a generally ideal family. Her relatives were regularly supportive of her choices and the dedication to them. Her family history was well documented and showed an abundence of charity work, which requires much devotion. There was almost a heritage of commitment passed on to Rosalind.

The strong quality surfaced early in her life. As a child she was very focused and though dedication started as a stubborn eagerness, it slowly and wisely matured.

Society seemed to know that early persistence in a girl can prove promising, but fears that she will only find closed doors in the real world urge these girls to find a more "suitable" place in the home. Rosalind's own father had at one point tried to discourage her from pursuing a career in science: but this was all done for her protection. Ambition in a girl was justified only if she was talented but born to poor families and needed to pull herself up in status. The same limitation was not set for a young man. There was practically an assumption of his need for self-fulfillment or self-development.

Due to Rosalind's already headstrong personality, the matter-of-course attitude of female suppression served as a catalyst for Rosalind's struggle against society. Her strong will earned her a reputation in the field of science, and soon, even changed her father's oppositions.

With the onset of World War II, Rosalind's career was no longer to be debated since her talents were needed in the war effort. After improving her standing by working with coal carbons at (B) CURA [(British) Coal Utilization Research Association], she soon left and persued work in Paris, France at the age of twenty-five.

In France, she learned the art of X-ray crystallography from Jacques Mering. The science was new to her and she no doubt learned it and promptly enhanced the techniques. However, the training was far from strict and harsh (contrary to Watson's belief). And perhaps most helpful to her morale, under French open mindedness she made some of the best friends of her short life. She left Paris andit's thankful lack of reserved English ethics to apply herself to a more challenging scientific topic.

In the spring of 1951, Rosalind began work at King's College to contribute to the attempt of solving the structure for the DNA molecule with crystallography X-ray photos.

She went to King's with high hopes, but 1951 to 1953 was a disappointing period for her. Almost at first sight, there developed a hostile relationship between fellow falculty member, Maurice Wilkins, and herself. Her disappointment of this situation was, to her, not exaggerated, but others thought that her dissatisfaction was too general or personal. Though the relationship with Wilkins might have started on the wrong foot due to a minor misunderstanding, the result was far from trivial.

At the time of Rosalind's attendence at King's, Wilkins had already been a member for 5 years, while Rosalind was a new arrival. An additional disadvantage lie in the fact that the institution did comepletely welcome female members to it's staff. The college was acustomed to a majorly male environment, so daily annoyances toward the female faculty were passed on as merely "bad habits." There was almost an assumption that females did not mind this bias seperation. For example, the male members dined in large, comfy rooms and the female staff had lunch in student halls or off King's campus.

This discrimination was justified by "logical" reasons which were pointed out and accepted by the British then: King's was set up as a theological school; and since the Church of England didn't allow woman into it's ministry, it was appropriate for King's to remain a male establishment.

Rosalind's gender was acknowledged more then her ability to be a scientist. The lab that Rosalind was asigned to had only one other female co-worker. It would have proven unsporting of the two to complain while having the opportunity to work there.

There then existed the unnecessary decision of weither a woman scientist schould or should not marry and start a family. Family life was sought out to be an appropriate addition to a male scientist's development, but for a female scientist it could "ruin" her career. Is this true? Or does everyone else "ruin" her career by no longer reconizing her scientifically simply because she has a family?

This social surrounding made it hard for Rosalind to work. Her virtual isolation stopped only with a young student named Gosling, but his knowledge was limited. The lack of people to ask for advice inside the lab slowed her work considerably. On the other hand, Watson and his partner, Francis Crick, had each other, and a whole league of researchers with the latest results from experiments.

The unsuccessful relationships between herself, Wilkins, and Watson: a combination of the misinturpertations of her personality, and the pre-concieved notion of how her sex ought to behave. This mostly silent conflict went on, and there was a lot of secrecy between the Rosalind/Wilkins labs, and the Watson/Crick lab. The concealment of information was even between Rosalind and Wilkins. However, whenever Wilkins finds out about Rosalind's research, he would share casualy with Watson and Crick. Therefore, Rosalind never found out that her research was crucial to Watson and Crick's second DNA model while she was still alive.

Watson and Crick mostly did not experiment with much. From what I can observe from The Double Helix, Watson spent most time trying to avoid learning any new techniques and simply waited for a new piece of the DNA puzzle. During which Crick's time was consumed regularly by his PH. D. thesis. However, I can not deny the amazing fact that the two was able to piece together all available data to construct the correct DNA structure.

The Watson-Crick team did not reach the solution immediately. They constructed two models. The first, incorrect one, was builty with the sugar-phosphate backbone in the center. Rosalind almost instantly pointed out that the backbone would have to be on the outside of the molicule.

From the beginning, Watson insisted that Rosalind disliked model building and thought that DNA was not helical. But Rosalind's notebooks were explored after her death, and they provided a defense against Watson's assumptions. According to Rosalind's records, she had nothing personal against models, and was well aware that DNA in its B form was a helix. It was also stated clearly that she knew that the molicule must be base-centered.

In The Double Helix, Watson acknowledged Rosalind's work, but its purpose was almost to downplay the importance of her research. Curiously, in the Epilogue, Watson told that he has a new perspective on Rosalind now, but yet he chose to present "Rosy" to his audience at the time of publishing. Clearly, after reading his book, the average reader would probably think it impossible to appriciate the work of an inflexible, assistant-type character.

After leaving King's, Rosalind transferred to Birkbeck (which she thinks is an improvement over the social environment at Kings College). She held respect for J. D. Bernal, who believed inequality of male and female workers. He accepted women students openly and encouraged them to promote their carrers. In Birkbeck, Rosalind crystallographically delt with the TMV tabacco mosaic virus.

Her quarters at Birbeck were far from pleasant, the morbid conditions were complete with a leaking roof, but she never complained.

Another obstacle stood waiting in the autumn of 1955, the Agricultural Research Council was believed to have denied funds for her because they refuse to support any project directed by a woman.

Rosalind's final conflict concerned her health. For a while, she dissmissed her illness and lived as made plans for the next year even in her deathbed, even though they were all mockery. I, for one, admire her courage.

Injustice was certainly served to Rosalind, but most tragicly, it did not end with her lost battle with cancer. Much of her work, such as having found the DNA helix's diameter, DNA density, and locating the position of the sugar-phosphate backbone, were all credited to Wilkins.

One of the most shocking and disgusting lasting effects of "Rosy" came from a passage in Rosalind Franklin & DNA's Afterword. Anne Sayre attended a local school board meeting and one made insisted that the mandatory science courses be removed from the girl's curriculum requirements. His only reason was that he, "didn't want her to grow up like that woman Rosy-what's-her-name in that book." Sayre comments, "I think I wept."

Watson and Crick recieved the Nobel Prize along with Wilkins in 1962. Unfortunately, Rosalind wasn't considered for the award: she had already passed away on April 16, 1958, at the untimely age of 37.

Bibliography

Sayre, Anne, Rosalind Franklin & DNA, (New York/London, W.W. Norton, 1975).
Watson, James D., The Double Helix, (New York/London, W.W. Norton, 1968).