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Rosalind Franklin in DNARosalind Franklin used crystallography to make an x-ray image of the structure of DNA that led to the discovery of the double-helix by Watson and Crick. Watson and Crick already understood the fact that bases composed the DNA in a certain manner, but did not know exactly the order in which they paired. The x-ray Rosalind provided the outline of the DNA and from there Watson and Crick could analyze how the DNA was in fact a double helix due to the triple bonded G-C (Guanine and Cytosine) that formed the "skinny" parts of the DNA and the double-bonded A-T (Adenine and Thymine) that formed the "fatter" parts of the DNA. Due to this woman's crystallography, Watson and Crick ultimately won the Nobel Prize. Rosalind could not acquire this award because she died four years earlier of radiation from the x-rays that caused her to develop cancer.
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14y ago
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13y ago

Rosalind Franklin's work was a major factor in the effort to determine the structure of DNA. Franklin observed how DNA reacted to water. From this evidence she deduced that hydrophobic nitrogenous bases must be located on the inside of the helical structure, and that hydrophilic sugar-phosphate backbone must be located on the outside, facing toward the watery nucleus of the cell.

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9y ago

Franklin originally discovered the double helix structure of DNA, although Watson and Crick were first to construct a model and therefore got a majority of the credit. However, Franklin discovered the double helix structure when firing x-ray beams at crystalized DNA and observing the patterns created when these rays reflected off the DNA. The first time that the double helix can be seen from Franklin's experiments is called photo 51.

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12y ago

x-ray diffraction photos of the DNA molecule

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Q: What contributions to the understanding of DNA did Rosalind Franklin make?
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Who discovered that the shape of DNA is a double helix?

Watson and Crick using Rosalind Franklin's x-ray of a double helix of DNA which she had not yet realized was a double helix Rosalind Franklin made an x-ray that showed the nucleotide structure of DNA. Watson and Crick used her x-ray to make their 3-D model of DNA's structure.


What did rosalind Franklin use to make her discovery?

Rosalind Franklin utlised X-ray diffraction; a method by which patterns and images created by the diffraction of x-radiation through a sample may be used to determine composition and structure on a molecular level.


How Did Rosalind Franklin change the world?

Because of her work in genetics and DNA. She discovered the first ever picture of DNA using x-ray diffraction. Using this picture, she was able to find that it was a double-helix structure. Watson and Crick stole her idea, because female scientists were looked down at in those times and nobody cared, and created the double-helix model and got all of the credit. also because this is stupid mwahahaha


Who is the woman who along with Watson and Crick discovered DNA's double helix shape?

Rosalind Franklin. After discovering the existence of the A and B forms of DNA, Rosalind Franklin also succeeded in developing an ingenious and laborious method to separate the two forms, providing the first DNA crystals pure enough to yield interpretable diffraction patterns. She then went on to obtain excellent X-ray diffraction patterns of crystalline B-form DNA and, using a combination of crystallographic theory and chemical reasoning, discovered important basic facts about its structure. She discovered that the sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA lies on the outside of the molecule, not the inside as was previously thought. She discovered the helical structure of DNA has two strands, not three as proposed in competing theories. She gave quantitative details about the shape and size of the double helix. The all- important missing piece of the puzzle, that she could not discover from her data, was how the bases paired on the inside of the helix, and thus the secret of heredity itself. That discovery remained for Watson and Crick to make. Rosalind Franklin. After discovering the existence of the A and B forms of DNA, Rosalind Franklin also succeeded in developing an ingenious and laborious method to separate the two forms, providing the first DNA crystals pure enough to yield interpretable diffraction patterns. She then went on to obtain excellent X-ray diffraction patterns of crystalline B-form DNA and, using a combination of crystallographic theory and chemical reasoning, discovered important basic facts about its structure. She discovered that the sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA lies on the outside of the molecule, not the inside as was previously thought. She discovered the helical structure of DNA has two strands, not three as proposed in competing theories. She gave quantitative details about the shape and size of the double helix. The all- important missing piece of the puzzle, that she could not discover from her data, was how the bases paired on the inside of the helix, and thus the secret of heredity itself. That discovery remained for Watson and Crick to make.


What scientists contributed to the discovery of DNA?

Oswald and Avery plus Hersey and Chase were early experimenters that actually showed that DNA, not protein, was the hereditary material. Maurice Wilkins and especially Rosalind Franklin with her X-ray crystallography laid the physical ground work, but it was James Watson and Francis Crick who elucidated the structure of DNA in 1952.

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Watson and Crick using Rosalind Franklin's x-ray of a double helix of DNA which she had not yet realized was a double helix Rosalind Franklin made an x-ray that showed the nucleotide structure of DNA. Watson and Crick used her x-ray to make their 3-D model of DNA's structure.


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Rosalind Franklin utlised X-ray diffraction; a method by which patterns and images created by the diffraction of x-radiation through a sample may be used to determine composition and structure on a molecular level.


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