NOVA: Secret of Photo 51

Name _________________________________________
NOVA: Secret of Photo 51
1. Who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962?
2. What book did James Watson publish in 1968?
3. How did Watson describe Franklin in his book?
4. Who objected to Watson’s book?
5. Describe Rosalind Franklin’s early years.
6. Where did Franklin study physics and chemistry?
7. How did Franklin contribute to the war effort?
8. Where did Franklin go after the war?
9. For what were lab workers periodically checked?
10. When Franklin moved to England, what subject was she asked to study?
11. What misunderstanding occurred between Franklin and Maurice Wilkins?
12. Who was James Watson and why did he come to Europe?
13. What was the environment like for a female scientist? What nickname was Franklin given?
14. What was Franklin’s first major discovery about DNA?
15. What does the “x” shape prove?
16. Who is in the audience listening to Franklin’s talk?
17. What approach did Watson and Crick use to find the shape of DNA?
18. Who gives away Franklin’s unpublished work? To whom does he give it to?
19. When did Franklin get her best picture? What did she title it?
20. The race is now in earnest. How do the “discoverers” come to their conclusion about the structure
of DNA? What information did they need?
21. Did Franklin approve of Watson and Crick’s model in 1953? What did she not know when viewing
the model?
22. Where was Franklin’s article placed in the journal Nature on the structure of DNA?
23. What does Franklin call her greatest discovery?
24. What happened to Franklin in 1956? What was the likely cause of this diagnosis?
25. When did Franklin pass away?
26. When Watson, Crick, and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize for their work on DNA in 1962, did
they mention Rosalind Franklin’s contribution to their discovery?
27. When Sir Aaron Klug received the Nobel Prize for his work on viruses that he had begun with
Franklin before her death, did he mention her in his acceptance speech?
28. In the documentary, Franklin’s former collaborator, Sir Aaron Klug, stated of Rosalind Franklin:
“She was a pretty tough person – single-minded, spoke what she believed, and could in fact be
quite fierce, and if she had been a man it would have gone totally unremarked.” What do you think
he means by this? Do you agree or disagree with the last part of his statement? Why?