Google’s Tribute to Rosalind Franklin on her 93rd Birthday

Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958), a British physicist and x-ray crystallographer was responsible for some of the groundbreaking discoveries in the field of life sciences. Her studies on DNA, RNA, Tobacco Mosaic Virus and Polio virus have been very important to the advancement of life sciences.

Rosalind Franklin’s work on DNA has been the most important of all her life’s work. She was the first person to have determined the overall B-form of the DNA double helix structure with the location of phosphate groups on the outside of the structure, contrary to the assumption of other researchers during that period. Her X-ray diffraction images of DNA structure were instrumental in the discovery of double helix structure by Watson and Crick, who had made use of her data to formulate their hypothesis.

Her work has been widely recognized posthumously across the world. Along with the scientific community, Google pays tribute to Rosalind Elsie Franklin on her 93rd birthday with a dedicated Google Doodle sporting her picture along with a double helix DNA structure and a X-ray diffraction image of the DNA on it.