Rosalind Franklin

Why 'the Dark Lady'? It was in these terms that Rosalind Franklin was described in 1953 by a fellow scientist at King's College London, Maurice Wilkins. He and Rosalind had brought out the worst in each other and, like several others at King's, Wilkins was delighted when she moved to do her research at Birkbeck College. She was maligned even more in James Watson's book, The Double Helix, in which he gave his famous and exciting account of the discovery of the structure of DNA. There he caricatured Franklin as a dowdy, selfish, bad-tempered woman who would not share the scientific findings she did not herself understand. In this lucidly written and fascinating biography Brenda Maddox sets the record straight and pays tribute to a distinguished scientist who, in spite of the difficulties placed in her way by a frequently misogynistic working environment, made an immensely important contribution to the work on the molecular structure of genes, the secret of life. Reading letters written to and by Rosalind from childhood until her death from ovarian cancer when she was in her early 30s and speaking to the scientists with whom she worked, including Crick, Watson and Wilkins, Maddox has been able to paint the portrait of a dedicated, hard-working and courageous woman who had made a name for herself and published many papers long before she came to King's. She was loyal to her Jewish family and never afraid to speak her mind. Not one to suffer fools gladly, she could be brusque but she could and did inspire love and loyalty and was mourned not only by friends and family but also by colleagues in Paris and London. It is rare to find writing as clear as this; complicated scientific experiments and problems are carefully explained so that both the scientist and the non-scientist can understand and enjoy this book. Watson and Crick of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, along with Maurice Wilkins, were awarded the Nobel prize. Years later, Rosalind Franklin's part in the discoveries was acknowledged; there is even a building at King's College London named after her and Wilkins. The tragedy of this story is imagining what more she might have achieved had she lived. (Kirkus UK)