Answer: Rosalind Franklin was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer who contributed greatly to the field of molecular biology. Franklin's most significant contribution was her work on X-ray crystallography of DNA, which provided crucial insights into the structure of the molecule. She produced the famous Photo 51, which was a high-quality X-ray image of DNA that provided crucial data for James Watson and Francis Crick to propose the double helix structure of DNA. Franklin's contribution to the discovery of DNA's structure was largely unacknowledged during her lifetime, and she died at the young age of 37 due to ovarian cancer.
Franklin's work on X-ray crystallography of DNA was built on a rich tradition of research in the field. In the early 20th century, X-ray crystallography was emerging as a powerful tool for studying the structure of molecules. This technique involves shining X-rays on a crystal of the molecule, which causes the X-rays to scatter and produce a pattern of spots. From the pattern of spots, the three-dimensional structure of the molecule can be inferred. Researchers such as William Astbury, Max Perutz, and John Kendrew had already made significant progress in the application of X-ray crystallography to the study of biological molecules such as proteins. Rosalind Franklin's work on the X-ray crystallography of DNA was part of this broader research program and built on the work of many others who had come before her.
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