RosalindFranklinalwayslikedfacts．Shewaslogicalandprecise，andimpatientwiththingsthatwereotherwise．Shedecidedtobecomeascientistwhenshewas15．ShepassedtheexaminationforadmissiontoCambridgeUniversityin1938，andit

　　Rosalind Franklin always liked facts．She was logical and precise，and impatient with things that were otherwise．She decided to become a scientist when she was 15．She passed the examination for admission to Cambridge University in 1938，and it sparked a family crisis．Although her family was well-to-do and had a tradition of public service and charity，her father disapproved of university education for women．He refused to pay．An aunt stepped in and said Franklin should go to school，and she would pay for it．Franklin’s mother also took her side until her father finally gave in．

　　She was invited to King’s College in London to join a team of scientists．The leader of the team assigned her to work on DNA with a graduate student．Franklin’s assumption was that it was her own project．The laboratory’s second-in-command，Maurice Wilkins，was on vacation at the time，and when he returned，their relationship was puzzling．He assumed she was to assist his work； she assumed she’d be the only one working on DNA．They had powerful personality differences as well：Franklin direct，quick，decisive，and Wilkins shy，hesitant，and passive．

　　In 1953，Wilkins changed the course of DNA history by disclosing，without Franklin’s permission，her Photo 51to competing scientist James Watson，who was working on his own DNA model with Francis Crick at Cambridge．Upon seeing the photograph，Watson said，“My jaw fell open and my pulse began to race，”according to author Brenda Maddox who wrote the book Rosalind Franklin：The Dark Lady of DNA．

　　The two scientists did in fact use what they saw in Photo 51as the basis for their famous model of DNA，which they published on March 7，1953，and for which they received a Nobel Prize in 1962．Crick and Watson were also able to take most of the credit for the finding：they included a footnote acknowledging that they were“stimulated by a general knowledge”of Franklin’s and Wilkin’s unpublished contribution，when much of their work was rooted in Franklin’s photo