Do you think that Watson should be stripped of being the founder of DNA and credit given to Roseland Franklin?

Question

All signs point to Watson and Crick having stolen the idea from her by sneaking into her lab. Why is she not given credit? She is the one that discovered it's spiral shape.

Watson and Crick committed a crime (breaking and entering), isn't that wrong?

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

Rosalind Franklin was the one!

the other two played the system. Crooks! But then the true history of science is full of such deceit.

The unsung heros did it not for fame, or money or that silly nobel prize. They did it because they loved it, money and fame were nothing to them. They did it because they were great.

They always will be.

But lets keep people like watson and crick, atleast they remind us of the worst in human nature.

Answer 3

No.  In everything I have read Franklin was given the appropriate credit for the work she did.  

The stolen and breaking and entering are myths.

Answer 4

She did an x-ray spectrograph if my memory is correct.  It did provide data that help Watson and Crick determine the structure but they were first to get the geometric structure of DNA right.  She deserves credit for what she did helping them.  Figuring out the double helix wasn't much of an intellectual accomplishment given all the data.  It was just such an important thing from the point of view of Biology.  They just got there first because they stole the data.  Someone else would have figured it out pretty quickly if they hadn't.  She didn't propose the structure of DNA so she can't really get that credit.  Her data didn't give the arrangement of molecules that revealed how the code of life worked.

Answer 5

No.  Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA through several different sources of existing evidence.  They got some help from Rosalind (not Roseland)*, which might have been somewhat unethical (a portrayed in Watson's own book, the Double Helix), BUT Rosalind did not propose the model for the structure as Watson and Crick did.

* In the story, Watson (who did not know how to interpret X-ray crystallograpy images) saw some of Rosalind's images of DNA.  He later described these well enough to Crick, that enabled Crick to know that the structure was a Double Helix.

Answer 6

You have your facts wrong.  First, there was no crime like breaking and entering.  Watson and Crick's paper was likely published without approval or knowledge from Franklin, which while inappropriate and perhaps unethical, was not a crime (nor should it be considered).  Franklin's work *was* given credit - a footnote in their landmark publication in Nature.  Hardly what she deserved, but not as terrible as you state it to be.

So while she did not get the credit and support she deserved at the time, she has been greatly vindicated in present histories.  The greater tragedy to me is that she passed away at such an early age so she could not receive her recognition while she was alive.

Furthermore, Watson and Crick continued to gain credit because of their further work in elucidating the role of DNA, particularly Crick.

Answer 7

Yeah, as I understand it, both Watson and Crick had come up with a "wrong" model for DNA. They were at a stand-still until Watson, by accident alone, still unethical, happened across the X-ray crystallography that Rosalind had made. Watson immediately knew that what he was looking at was the answer to the mystery behind the structure of DNA.

See: The Discovery of DNA -- a photo finish

http://fig.cox.miami.edu/~cmallery/150/g...

It seems like there was a third scientist working with Watson and Crick on the DNA project.  As I recall, when it came down to who was going to ultimately get credit for the discovery, Watson didn't want this third researcher to be part of it, Crick did.  Watson won out.

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Answer 8

I'm not sure about the breaking and entering part, but it is true rosiland franklin should at least have been given equal credit....it was terribly mean of them not to include her in their work.

Answer 9

you are much too conspiratorial the case for Rose Franklin is weak at best and based upon hearsay and innuendo---leave Watson and his 'buddy' Crick, alone....

Answer 10

They did not sneak into her lab.  They were invited by her colleague Wilkins who shared the same lab space.  No law was broken.

Franklin does gets credit.  If she lived longer, she would have been awarded the Nobel Prize with Watson, Crick and Wilkins.

They do not give that award post posthumously, which tragic in her case since she died of cancer that originated from her x-ray work.

Answer 11

Watson and Crick didn't really commit a 'crime' per say.  Rosalind Franklin was the one who did all the x-ray work, and Watson and Crick simply used her research to come up with the DNA structure.  She definitely didn't get the recognition she deserved, but she did get some credit for it.

One of the reasons she wasn't given more credit was (1) she was a woman.  And (2) she died at a young age, so she wasn't able to be awarded a Nobel prize.  Ironically, her death was due to all the radiation she was exposed to in her work... the very work that Watson and Crick used when creating their DNA model.  She practically gave her life for her research, and in the end, it is Watson and Crick that are most remembered for it.

Answer 12

she took a picture of it.  watson and crick perfectly interpreted the picture and made a model of it...

Answer 13

Ha, when I first heard about Franklin, I was like "Wait a minute... WHAT?"

It's weird how much credit she doesn't get.