--- description: Rosalind Franklin is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century. title: Rosalind Franklin: 100 Women of the Year image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63d02cc2a88ab341/698a0af2011682f64097f0ea/social-1953_Rosalind-Franklin.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 1953: Rosalind Franklin Mar 5, 2020 11:36 AM CUT  Buy the cover art→ Buy the cover art→Illustration by Jody Hewgill for TIME by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 5, 2020 11:36 AM CUT Without Rosalind Franklin, there may have been no James Watson and Francis Crick—or, more specifically, no global fame and Nobel prize. Trained as a chemist, Franklin created an [X-ray photograph](https://time.com/4155549/vintage-x-ray-photos/ "undefined") that provided evidence of the double-helix structure of DNA molecules. In 1953, Watson, who had been investigating the structure of DNA as well, was shown the image and immediately knew its significance. “The instant I saw the picture my mouth fell open and my pulse began to race,” he wrote in his 1968 book, [_The Double Helix_](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/09/the-double-helix-james-d-watson-100-best-nonfiction-books "undefined"). “The black cross of reflections which dominated the picture could only arise from a helical structure.” [**Buy the cover art→**](https://fineartamerica.com/featured/rosalind-franklin-1953-time.html "undefined") The image was not proof, but critical evidence, as was the data Franklin had derived when she analyzed the image. Watson, Crick and their colleague Maurice Wilkins came by the image and data legitimately in the course of their work, and no one ever seriously alleged intellectual theft. But no one pretends either that they could have achieved their later breakthrough, proving the double-helical structure of DNA, without Franklin’s work. Yet when Watson and Crick published their findings in 1953, and when they and Wilkins won the Nobel Prize for the same findings in 1962, Franklin was forgotten. In 1958, at age 37, Franklin died of cancer. Only now is she being appreciated. In my cancer advocacy work, I’ve met [female scientists](https://time.com/longform/esther-lederberg/ "undefined") who are welcomed and respected by their male colleagues. I’m sorry Rosalind Franklin wasn’t. But from now on, whenever you hear the names of the two men who discovered DNA, make it a troika: Franklin, Watson and Crick—in that order. _—Katie Couric_ _Couric is a journalist_ --- _This article is part of_ [_100 Women of the Year_](https://time.com/100-women-of-the-year/ "undefined")_, TIME’s list of the most influential women of the past century. Read more_ [_about the project_](https://time.com/5793734/time-100-women-of-the-year-issue/ "undefined")_, explore the_ [_100 covers_](https://time.com/5793732/time-100-women-of-the-year-covers/ "undefined") _and sign up for our_ [_Inside TIME newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters?newsletter%5Fname=INSIDE%5FTIME&source=article-woy-footer "undefined") _for more._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5793551/rosalind-franklin-100-women-of-the-year/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5793551/rosalind-franklin-100-women-of-the-year/"},"headline":"1953: Rosalind Franklin","datePublished":"2020-03-05T11:36:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:20:50.339Z","description":"Rosalind Franklin is one of the leaders, innovators, activists, entertainers, athletes and artists who defined the last century.","url":"https://time.com/5793551/rosalind-franklin-100-women-of-the-year/","keywords":["Women of the Year","Women of the Year - Tech/Athletes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63d02cc2a88ab341/698a0af2011682f64097f0ea/social-1953_Rosalind-Franklin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63d02cc2a88ab341/698a0af2011682f64097f0ea/social-1953_Rosalind-Franklin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SOCIAL - Women of the Year: 1953_Rosalind-Franklin","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5793551/rosalind-franklin-100-women-of-the-year/","name":"1953: Rosalind Franklin"}}]}] ```