Rosalind Elsie Franklin was born in London 25 July 1920, the daughter of Ellis and Muriel Franklin. She was educated at St Paul's School, London. In 1941 she gained a BA in Physical Chemistry, at Newnham College, Cambridge. 1941-1942, she carried out research on the kinetics of polymerisation reaction at the Physical Chemistry Laboratory, Cambridge. This was followed by research on colloidal properties of coals and cokes at the British Coal Utilisation Research Association, 1942-1946. In 1945 she was awarded her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Cambridge. From 1947 to 1951 she directed a research group in X-ray diffraction studies of carbons at the Laboratoire Central des Services Chemiques de l'Etat in Paris. At the invitation of John Randall built an X-ray diffraction laboratory at King's College, London to research with R G Gosling the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), 1951-1953 . At the invitation of J D Bernal Franklin directed research on X-ray diffraction studies of plant viruses particularly the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) at Birkbeck College, London, 1953-1958 . Rosalind Franklin died in London 20 March 1958.

Publications (List taken from FRKN 4/1): "Thermal expansion of coal and carbonised coals" (Trans. Faraday Soc.B,48, 289 -1946); "A study of the fine structure of carbonaceous materials by measurements of true and apparent densities, Part 1: Coals" (Trans. Farady Soc., 45, 274 -1949); "A study of the fine structure of carbonaceous material by measurements of true and apparent densities. Part 2: Carbonised coals" (Trans. Farady Soc. 45, 668 -1949); "A note on the true density, chemical compositon and structure of coals and carbonised coals" (Fuel, 27, 46 -1948); "A structural model for coal substance" (Fuel, 28, 231 -1949); "Note sur la structure colloidale des houilles carbonisees" (International Colloquium 'Reactions dans l'etat solide'. Paris, 1949); "On the structure of carbon" (J. Chimie Physique, 47, 573, 1950); "The influence of the bonding electrons on the scattering of X-rays by carbon" (Nature, 165, 71 -1950); "The interpretation of diffuse X-ray diagrams of carbon" (Acta Cryst. 3, 107 -1950); "A rapid approximate method for correcting low-angle scattering measurements for the influence of the finite height of the X-ray beam" (Acta Cryst. 3, 158 -1950); "Les carbones graphitisables et non-graphitisables" (Compte Rendues, 232, 232 -1951); "The structure of graphite carbons" (Acta Cryst. 4, 253 -1951); "Crystallite growth in graphitising and non-graphitising carbons" (Proc.Roy.Soc.A, 209, 196 -1951); "The a-dimension in graphite" (Acta Cryst. 4, 561, 1951); "Some aspects of the ultra-fine structure of coals and cokes", Lecture at Belgrade, 1952 (Bull. Soc. Chim. Yugosl. 18, 203, 1953); "Molecular configuration in sodium thymonucleate" (Nature, 171, 742, 1953); "Evidence for 2-chain helix in crystalline structure of sodium desoxyribonucleate" (Nature, 172, 156, 1953); "The structure of sodium thymonucleate fibres. I. The influence of water content" (Acta Cryst. 6, 678 ,1953); "The structure of sodium thymonucleate fibres. II. The cylindrically symmetrical Paterson function" (Acta Cryst. 6, 678, 1953); "Le role de l'eau dans la structure de l'acide graphitique" (J. Chim. Phys. 60, 1953); "Graphitising and non-graphitising carbons: their formation, structure and properties" (Brennstoff Chemie, 34, 359, 1953); "The structure of sodium thymonucleate fibres. III. The tree-dimensional Patterson function" (Acta Cryst. 8, 151, 1955); "Structure of tobacco mosaic virus" (Nature, 175, 379, 1955); "X-ray diffraction by an abnormal protein (B8) associated with tbacco mosaic virus" (Nature, 175, 1075, 1955); "Structural resemblance between Schram's repolymerised A-protein and tobacco mosaic virus" (Biochim.Biophys.Acta, 18, 313, 1955); "The splitting of layer lines in X-ray fibre diagrams of helical structures: Application to tobacco mosaic virus" (Acta Cryst. 8, 777, 1955); "X-ray diffraction studies of cucumber virus 4 and three strains of tobacco mosaic virus" (Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 19, 203, 1956); "The nature of the helical groove on the tobacco mosaic virus particle" (Biochim.Biophys.Acta, 19, 403-419, 1956); "Location of the ribonucleic acid in the tobacco msaic virus particle" (Nature, 177, 929, 1956); "Homogeneous and heterogeneous graphitisation of carbon" (Nature, 177, 239, 1956); "The helical arrangement of the protein sub-units in tobacco mosaic virus" (Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 21, 405, 1956); "X-ray diffraction studies of the structure and morphology of tobacco mosaic virus Ciba Foundation Symposium on the 'Nature of Viruses'" pp 39-52 Churchill, London, 1956; Summarized proceedings of a Conference on the structures of semi-crystalline and non-crystalline material London 1955 (Brit.J.Appl.Phys. 7, 385, 1956); "The reaggregation of the A-protein of tobacco mosaic virus" (Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 23, 199-201, 1957); "Structure of turnip yellow mosaic virus" (Nature, 179, 683-684 ,1957); "The structure of turnip yellow mosaic virus - X-ray diffraction studies" (Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 25, 242-252, 1957); "Changes in the structure of carbon during oxidation" (Nature, 180, 1190, 1957); "Changes in the structure of carbons during gaseous oxidation" (Industrial Carbon and Graphite, 1957) (Pub by Soc.Chem.Ind, 1958); "Tobacco mosaic virus: application of the method of isomorphous replacement to the determination of the helical parameters and radial density distribution" (Acta Cryst. 11, 213, 1958); "X-ray diffraction studies of the structure of the protein of tobacco mosaic virus" (Symposium on Protein Structure. Ed: A Neuberger. Methuen, London, 1957); "The radial density distribution in some strains of tobacco mosaic virus" (Virology, 6, 328-336, 1958); "Order-disorder transitions in structures containg helical molecules" (Disc. Faraday Soc. No 25, 1958); "On the structure of some ribonucleoprotein particles" (Disc. Farady Soc. No 25, 1958); "The crystal structure of Tipula Iridescent Virus as studied by the Bragg reflection of visible light" (Biochim.Biophys.Acta, 32, 203-219, 1959); "The structure of viruses as determined by X-ray diffraction" (In: Plant Pathology: Problems and Progress. Ed: Holton, Fischer, Fulton, Hart, p. University of Wisconsin Press, 1959); "Classification of carbons as graphitizing and non-graphitizing Contribution in the session on Coals, Cokes and Carbons" at the annual Autumn Conference of the X-ray Analysis Group of the Institute of Physics held in London on 18 and 19 November 1955 (Brit. J. Applied Physics 7, 385-394, 1956); "Ribonucleic acid in the TMV particle, Nucleic Acids and Nucleoproteins" (informal discussion of the Farady Society, November 1956); "Early work on Tobacco Mosaic Virus", Contribution in the session on Viruses and Nucleic Acids at the annual Autumn Conference of the X-ray Analysis Group of the Institute of Physics held in London on 16 and 17 November 1956 (Brit. J. Applied Physics 9, 1-12, 1958).