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Despite what Watson said, Rosalind Franklin understood structure of DNA first

58 points by gumby ago | 6 comments

bondarchuk |next [-]

So did Franklin provably realize the double-helix structure of DNA first or not? A lot of beating about the bush here but the article stops just short of actually explicitly making the claim it's working so hard to imply, AFAICT...

(edit: should note the HN submission title (at present "Despite what Watson said, Rosalind Franklin understood structure of DNA first") does not actually occur in TFA)

burnte |root |parent [-]

She totally did. She was the crystallography expert, she understood the meaning of the results immediately. She died and had no one to defend her so W&C were left with the credit, as was normal in the 50s and 60s (and 70s, 80s, 90s, etc).

klipt |root |parent [-]

Discrimination against the dead strikes again. Well, the dead are tired of taking this lying down. Time for the dead to rise up!

howunfortunate |next |previous [-]

Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered

stefantalpalaru |next |previous [-]

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hobonation |next |previous [-]

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jmspamerton |next |previous [-]

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antonvs |previous [-]

No-one should take Watson seriously. He exploited institutional sexism, systemic minimization, and unequal credit distribution to aggrandize his own contribution. It's a good example of why efforts like "DEI" are important - because if you leave things to people in a position of privilege, you get a completely distorted picture.