WI: Raymond Gosling and family of Rosalind Franklin offered 1964 Order of Lenin.

Two years after the Oct. '62 Cuban Missile Crisis and somewhat the rapprochement in relations between the two superpowers.

And two years after James Watson, Francis Crick, and Maurice Wilkins won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work in describing the structure of DNA. Who did not win the Nobel was Rosalind Franklin (deceased) and Raymond Gosling.

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Plus, I really like the idea of virtuous competition between the Soviet Union and the United States. So, what if the Order of Lenin kind of became an alternate Nobel?
 
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http://www.famousscientists.org/rosalind-franklin/

Franklin, with the benefit of her experience in Paris, started setting up X-ray equipment to take the best X-ray diffraction photos ever seen at King’s.

Eight months into her new job, in September 1951, she made a pivotal breakthrough, discovering a previously unsuspected second type of DNA.

See also . . . http://www.livescience.com/39804-rosalind-franklin.html

So, Dr. Rosalind Franklin made major contributions, as is now widely acknowledged.

Now, she was a perfectionist, as intense persons sometimes are. And the head of the lab at King's College seemed to set up this weird competition between her and Maurice Wilkins.
 
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I'm assuming the Soviet Union would announce that they're going to start presenting the award, in addition to Soviet citizens, to persons who are major benefactors to the human race. And the award would potentially be accepted in that spirit, or not accepted.

Raymond Gosling was born in 1926, so he was thirty-eight in 1964. And at a relatively young age such as this, a major award is often more of a burden than a blessing.

I'll tell you, as an American citizen, if I was living in the 1960s and say I was fortunate enough to be a major medical researcher and perhaps somewhat older in my fifties, and I was offered the Order of Lenin. Well, first I'd want to talk to one of my Senators or my Representative. And I wouldn't necessarily need to met the president, but I think a lot of letters do go out on the president's letterhead. I'd pretty much need a letter from the president asking me to accept the Order of Lenin award toward the improvement of peaceful relations between our two countries. And at that point, I would like to think I could accept the award in the spirit in which it's offered.
 
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obi...r-Raymond-Gosling-DNA-scientist-obituary.html

The more famous “Photograph 51” was taken in May 1952 and is usually described as Rosalind Franklin’s. That, too, however, was taken by Gosling.
In competing with the Nobel, the Soviet Union might make a couple of points:

1) We try to respect and recognize that women have equal rights, as the case with Dr. Rosalind Franklin above.

2) We try to recognize junior members of faculty who do much of the actual work, as is the case with now Dr. Raymond Gosling.

3) And we try to recognize that major human endeavors require the efforts of many more people than the relatively sparse number of persons who are usually noted and praised.
 
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During a time of growing peace, the Soviet Union introduces the Order of Lenin, International.

What if this is well received ? ?
 
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three other nominees?

1944 paper by Avery, MacLeod, and McCarty

None of these three won the Nobel Prize either!, although they were nominated. And I think Avery in particular is talked about as one of the more deserving of non-recipients of the Nobel Prize.

http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/coll/pauling/dna/papers/avery-studies.html

"Studies on the Chemical Nature of the Substance Inducing Transformation of Pneumococcal Types: Induction of Transformation by a Desoxyribonucleic Acid Fraction Isolated from Pneumococcus Type III." Journal of Experimental Medicine, Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, Maclyn McCarty, 79: 137-158, January 1944.
 
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Raymond Gosling was born in 1926, so he was thirty-eight in 1964. And at a relatively young age such as this, a major award is often more of a burden than a blessing.
Was he inclined towards the politics of the USSR, though? Was he known to hold leftist sympathies? If so, then, yes, he might accept, but many scientists are apolitical, and accepting an award from the other side might arose some unwanted suspicion from the British government.
 
WI ... Hitler is killed by Elser's 1939 bomb, Goering negotiates Germany's way out of the war, and Nazi Germany establishes the Order of Hitler as an honor for what they consider great achievements? (Which could include things well-regarded by others.) And Nazi Germany awards the Order of Hitler to Gosling and Franklin?

Granted, ITTL Hitler has only murdered thousands of people, not millions, but the regime he founded is a brutal, murderous tyranny - like Lenin's. If honors from one are acceptable, why not the other?
 
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WI ... HItler is killed by Elser's 1939 bomb, . . . . . Granted, ITTL Hitler has only murdered thousands of people, not millions, but the regime he founded is a brutal, murderous tyranny - like Lenin's. If honors from one are acceptable, why not the other?
Thank you for laying out the dilemma so clearly.

I guess my answer is that Stalin was an aberration, as were the lesser number of killings under Lenin although still far too many, just like the killings and abuses of Native Americans in the 1800s and beyond by my own United States were an aberration. In a way that the killings under the Nazis were not but much more built into the system. And I freely acknowledge that this is a judgment call.
 
. . . Was he known to hold leftist sympathies? . . .
I think it would be more interesting if Ray Gosling were a Tory. And please remember, I'm assuming a growing period of peace between East and West following the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Ray's not sure what to do. He contacts a conservative member of Parliament who he and his family know a little. This member in turn puts him in contact with one of the most long-standing and respected conservative members of Parliament.

This member writes a formal letter to Ray asking that he accept the award for the sake of growing peace, and also acknowledging that he's free to accept or decline and that the decision is of course his. In this spirit, Dr. Raymond Gosling accepts the award. And he has the letter, publicly released by the member of Parliament, as a ready response in case anyone gives him any grief about it.
 
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I think it would be more interesting if Ray Gosling were a Tory. And please remember, I'm assuming a growing period of peace between East and West following the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Ray's not sure what to do. He contacts a conservative member of Parliament who he and his family know a little. This member in turn puts him in contact with one of the most long-standing and respected conservative members of Parliament.

This member writes a formal letter to Ray asking that he accept the award for the sake of growing peace, and also acknowledging that he's free to accept or decline and that the decision is of course his. In this spirit, Dr. Raymond Gosling accepts the award. And he has the letter, publicly released by the member of Parliament, as a ready response in case anyone gives him any grief about it.

Best case scenario for him. Because let's face it, handied wrongly and it's an international incident.
 
. . . handied wrongly and it's an international incident.
It certainly could play out that way. Disrespect and/or perceptions of disrespect could echo back and forth several times.

But let's say the Soviets are a little savvy. They realize person might accept the award, or he or she might decline. A person might even initially say they're going to accept it and then pretty much change their mind at the last minute. And it's all good. The Soviets with their rather newly inspired and somewhat more liberal leadership can ride with any or all of this.

Maybe the Soviet Embassy in the UK sends a letter to the member of Parliament who represents the district for the nominee?? That way, the person hears from someone of their own culture. And if a nominee isn't interested, usually they'll bow out at this stage of the process.
 
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