WI/AHC: Rosalind Franklin, 1962's Nobel prize winner for the DNA's double helix?

[Richter10]

Rosalind Franklin was a biophysicist and X-Ray crystallographer, working on King's College, whose experimental work was crucial for the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA by Francis Crick and James Watson, work that made Crick and Watson, together with Maurice Wilkins (Ms. Franklin's boss) to win the 1962's Nobel Prize of Medicine.

Crucial in the sense that they used her data - including the now famous "photograph 51", shown by Wilkins to Watson - without Rosalind Franklin's knowledge at the time!

Actuallly, she did came on her own with the double helix structure for the DNA molecule, based on experimental data, rather than Crick and Watson's theorical model, but her article on it was the third published on the subject on Nature, with her contribuitions diminished and forgotten until much later.

She died in 1958, 37-years-old, due ovarian cancer.

But what if she lived longer? What if her article was published at the same time than Watson and Crick?

Could be her the one to win the 1962's Nobel Prize for the discovery of the structure of DNA?

Can we make her win the Nobel Prize?

[Plumber]

Easy. No cancer.

[Richter10]

Originally Posted by Plumber

Easy. No cancer.

That would be the first condition - the Nobel Prize only indicate living scientist at the time of the nomination. But her survival - as a single POD - would be enough for Rosalind Franklin win the Nobel Prize?

Or we would need a second POD, like she beating or at last publishing at the same time Watson and Crick her proposal of molecular structure?

And what would be the consequences if she won the Nobel Prize, rather than Watson and Crick?

[The Oncoming Storm]

I think her cancer was caused by her having a disregard for safety regulations. Bill Bryson wrote in A Short History of Nearly Everything about how she rarely wore protective clothing and would regularly adjust the position of samples without switching off the X-Ray machines so she would be standing directly in the beam

[Richter10]

Originally Posted by The Oncoming Storm

I think her cancer was caused by her having a disregard for safety regulations. Bill Bryson wrote in A Short History of Nearly Everything about how she rarely wore protective clothing and would regularly adjust the position of samples without switching off the X-Ray machines so she would be standing directly in the beam

Maybe she being more careful with the X-Ray radiation would be the POD to butterfly away her cancer - so now she will live at last until 1962 (and maybe longer).

Now we need the POD for the work to be far more recognized by scientific community since 1953, for she win the Nobel Prize...

[pbaustin2]

Too much sexism in society at that time. Even if she lives longer she won't be the important figure the OP wants her to be.

[The Oncoming Storm]

Originally Posted by pbaustin2

Too much sexism in society at that time. Even if she lives longer she won't be the important figure the OP wants her to be.

Sadly that is true, you only have to see the way that my fellow Northern Irelander Jocelyn Bell was overlooked by the Nobel Committee despite the contribution she made to the discovery of pulsars.

[Richter10]

Originally Posted by pbaustin2

Too much sexism in society at that time. Even if she lives longer she won't be the important figure the OP wants her to be.

Originally Posted by The Oncoming Storm

Sadly that is true, you only have to see the way that my fellow Northern Irelander Jocelyn Bell was overlooked by the Nobel Committee despite the contribution she made to the discovery of pulsars.

In part, that is one of the reasons of challenge: if Rosalind Franklin wins the Nobel at the 60's, together wih the upcoming womans rights movement, would not it open the door to Jocelyn Bell and others?

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Originally Posted by The Oncoming Storm

Sadly that is true, you only have to see the way that my fellow Northern Irelander Jocelyn Bell was overlooked by the Nobel Committee despite the contribution she made to the discovery of pulsars.

It wasnt JUST sexism. Junior people didnt count. Look at who won for diabetes. Not banting and best, but banting and mcleod iirc, the latter guy being the head of the department, but didnt do the work.
Edit: on further investigation, there seems to be some contention that MacLeod actually did deserve his portion of the prize, although that's not what I learned in school.
Edit2: Sexism was even worse than ageism at the time, but Jocelyn Bell got hit by both. IIRC

[Richter10]

So... any suggestions of how Rosalind Franklin would get the Nobel Prize? Anyone?

[Richter10]

Huh... people... any ideas? comments?

[YLi]

Watson and Crick die in a horrible accident. Rosalind Franklin doesn't get cancer.

[Simreeve]

Franklin's boss takes a deeper look at her work than he seems to have done IOTL, and publishes the 'double-helix' theory before Crick & Watson could get around to doing so (if he even allows them access to those photos anyway). In his first paper on the subject he names Franklin as a very important contributor to the work, and the Nobel Committee -- having looked at the matter -- ends up granting them the prize jointly.

[Mostlyharmless]

A slight problem with some of these ideas is that Watson was important. He was probably the only one who had heard of Chargaff's rules http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chargaff%27s_rules and thus he was probably critical in producing the idea of a base pair although Lord Todd was needed to check the idea (of the names in this thread so far, I only sure that Pauling understood the idea of hydrogen bonding at the time and would have placed all the hydrogens correctly on the bases).

So why not have Crick visit London. Rosalind Franklin would have respected him. Might she have shown him her best photographs? If she had, I assume that they would have immediately agreed that B-DNA was helical and I expect that, after input from Watson, they would have published together. Then we only need RF to survive to receive the prize.

[Richter10]

Originally Posted by Mostlyharmless

So why not have Crick visit London. Rosalind Franklin would have respected him. Might she have shown him her best photographs? If she had, I assume that they would have immediately agreed that B-DNA was helical and I expect that, after input from Watson, they would have published together. Then we only need RF to survive to receive the prize.

Crick asking Franklin for the data rather than Watson? That is a very interesting idea, since I think that Crick would not imply that Franklin didn't understand her own data, like Watson did...

Favorable points to the idea is that Crick (together with Wilkins) did criticize Watsons portrait of Franklin in "The Double Helix" and also that when she was struck by cancer, Crick and (mainly) his wife Odile became her friend...