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MY SISTER, ROSALIND FRANKLIN On the centenary of Rosalind Franklin’s birth, Jenifer Glynn offers a personal glimpse into the life of the scientist who helped uncover the structure of DNA and transformed the way we understand viruses been a splendid mother. It is 100 years this July since Rosalind Franklin was born, 62 years since she died. She is, of course, remembered as a fine scientist who played a vital part in working out the structure of DNA, so starting the great revolution in biological science of the 20th century. Her reputation has grown with time, partly because of the romance of her early death at the height of her powers and partly because of the tendency to see her achievement in the light of feminism, turning her into a feminist idol and a beacon for women in science. But she was a thorough and enthusiastic scientist regardless of gender. She never talked of the problem of being a woman in a man’s world. Our family was part of the AngloJewish establishment, having been in England for more than a century. As a child, Rosalind accompanied my parents to London’s New West End Synagogue, founded by our great-great-grandfather among others; by the time she was an undergraduate she had dropped belief in any religion, but always remained consciously Jewish. None of us ever experienced antisemitism but growing up in the 1930s we were only too aware of Nazi horrors, and Rosalind joined my parents and other family members in helping Jewish refugees. Two refugee children came to join our family; one, a nine-yearold Austrian girl, became a friend to me. Rosalind kept in touch with her and very much enjoyed her company. “Her greatest aesthetic pleasure was She was my sister, and with the help of family memories and letters, I want to write about her other achievements, her background, her enthusiasms, hopes and worries. She didn’t marry, but I believe that was because she never met anyone she wanted to marry, not because she decided to dedicate herself to science – she was a splendid aunt and I’m sure she would have in mountain scenery” Many of Rosalind’s closest friends were not Jews, but her close scientific colleagues were – above all, Vittorio Luzzati in Paris and Aaron Klug at Birkbeck College. Luzzati and Rosalind knew each other for some time before they discovered, to their surprise, that the other was Jewish. Rosalind’s strong secular Judaism probably helped her international outlook, making her feel more European than English, at home on the continent, and even more at home on a visit to Israel’s Weizmann Institute. Science dominated her life, but the countryside, mountains, walking and climbing were important to her. She loved travel, which meant going on local buses, seeking out remote places and staying in youth hostels. Her greatest aesthetic pleasure was in mountain scenery. In a 1947 letter she described hiking in the Alps: “The most heavenly expedition I have ever done. …We started out in cloud at 4.30 am, and the cloud lifted suddenly at sunrise just as we came onto the glacier, revealing pink summits above a ‘mer de nuages’… I can only tell you that the sheer beauty of it made me weep.” Traits of Rosalind’s character appeared in her childhood: her independent, clear thinking, logical mind, sense of humour, appreciation of the ridiculous, outspoken honesty and sense of justice. She enjoyed a mix of school activities – whether sport or studying Renaissance art – and always worked with thoroughness and care.From 1938 to 1941 she studied at Cambridge, a university under the shadow of an approaching war. Students and staff faced the reality of leaving to 16 JEWISHRENAISSANCE.ORG.UK JULY 2020
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fight or internment for foreign academics. Rosalind’s letters home are full of firewatching, air raid precautions, food shortages and hard work. She used her skills in war work at the British Coal Utilisation Research Association (CURA), studying the structure of different coals. This was the turning point in her scientific research, for studying molecular structures was to become her skill in various fields, while her expertise in coal research led to participation in a Gordon Conference (prestigous international scientific conferences) in New Hampshire in 1954. With the war over, and a PhD for her work at CURA, she moved to Paris. This was a happy time. She learnt the techniques of X-ray crystallography necessary for further structural studies. These were the techniques that she applied to biological problems, famously to the structure of DNA, when she came to King’s College London in 1951. She was at King’s for only two years, but her skill and analytic mind gave the King’s team, which she led with Maurice Wilkins, the experimental data that backed the work of Francis Crick and James Watson in Cambridge and produced the well-known double helix. The paper by Crick and Watson announcing the double helix appeared in the journal Nature in April 1953. Two other papers were published with it: one by Wilkins, Stokes and Wilson, and one by Rosalind, with her research student Raymond Gosling. Rosalind, having nearly reached the double helix solution and never happy at King’s, was anxious to move on. She transferred to Desmond Bernal’s virus lab at Birkbeck, where she joined Klug in setting up a unit to investigate virus structures. The term ‘DNA’ is now in everyone’s vocabulary and a clue to the genetic code vital in identifying the causes of many diseases, but back then it was not widely known. Her tombstone simply states, “her work on viruses was of lasting benefit to mankind”. Four years after Rosalind’s death, Watson, Crick and Wilkins were awarded Nobel Prizes for their DNA work. Six years later Watson wrote his book Double Helix, a racy account of the DNA story with a brutal caricature of Rosalind. This brought such an indignant reaction that it contributed to her lasting reputation. I C O M M O N S I K ; W G LY N N I F E R J E N O F ; C O U RT E SY Today I hear of plaques, competitions and awards in her memory, while endless labs and buildings are named after her. Last year Portsmouth University changed the name of its James Watson Halls to Rosalind Franklin Halls. The European Space Agency’s Mars Rover, to be launched next year, has, by public vote, been named the Rosalind Franklin. Plans to mark her centenary at Oxford’s new Rosalind Franklin Institute at Harwell and with an exhibition at King’s have been put on hold due to coronavirus, but the anniversary will be marked online. n Jenifer Glynn is the author of My Sister Rosalind Franklin, OUP, 2012. See: rfi.ac.uk ALA M Y Unlocking the mystery of Photo 51 From screening for rare diseases to genealogy, the impact of DNA research on modern medicine has been immeasurable. Naomi Attar hails the legacy of Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Franklin’s Photo 51 (below) was an image so beautiful and so clear that Francis Crick saw the double helix structure leap off the page. Suddenly, in this X-ray diffraction image, the mystery of genes began to unravel: the two strands of the double helix paired together in a sort of mirror of each other. Each ‘A’ in one strand was always paired with a ‘T’ in the other, and likewise ‘C’ and ‘G’. By creating new mirror images using these simple rules, DNA could copy itself. In the explosion of genetics and molecular biology that followed, technologies were developed to capture DNA sequences. Today, we can sequence an entire human genome with a USB stick that plugs into your computer in just a few hours and for only a few hundred pounds. We can provide genetic diagnoses to children born with rare diseases who may have previously suffered large numbers of unpleasant tests. These diagnostic powers have been a blessing to Jewish families affected by congenital diseases such as Tay Sachs, with genetic screening now common. Elsewhere in healthcare, we can sequence large numbers of individual cells from a patient’s tumour and see how it is mutating, and what treatments might offer hope. We can even edit DNA to change its sequence of letters and for some patients with blood cancers this can create genetically modified ‘super cancer fighter’ immune cells that eliminate what might have been terminal diseases. By comparing DNA sequences, we can investigate ancestry and familial connections. The history of many Ashkenazi Jews can be shown to lead to just seven maternal ancestors, or ‘mothers’. Long lost family can be reunited. Grieving families can gain closure. Fathers can be identified on daytime television. Serial killers can be caught on the basis of DNA matches with distant family members. Genetics has even been at the forefront of the COVID-19 outbreak. Sequencing and comparisons with SARS and other viruses first identified it as a novel coronavirus. From the genome sequence alone, scientists have been able to recreate the virus and study each of its genes, predict how it enters human cells and what drugs might be effective, and develop novel vaccine candidates and identify inhibiting antibodies. Tragically, in Rosalind’s lifetime she did not enjoy the renown she now has. And yet, there is no doubt, Photo 51 is the foundation of much of modern biology and healthcare. n Naomi Attar is a former biologist, and now a writer, editor and consultant in the healthcare and life science industry. JULY 2020 JEWISHRENAISSANCE.ORG.UK 17

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MY SISTER,

ROSALIND FRANKLIN

On the centenary of Rosalind Franklin’s birth, Jenifer Glynn offers a personal glimpse into the life of the scientist who helped uncover the structure of DNA and transformed the way we understand viruses been a splendid mother.

It is 100 years this July since Rosalind Franklin was born, 62 years since she died. She is, of course, remembered as a fine scientist who played a vital part in working out the structure of DNA, so starting the great revolution in biological science of the 20th century. Her reputation has grown with time, partly because of the romance of her early death at the height of her powers and partly because of the tendency to see her achievement in the light of feminism, turning her into a feminist idol and a beacon for women in science. But she was a thorough and enthusiastic scientist regardless of gender. She never talked of the problem of being a woman in a man’s world.

Our family was part of the AngloJewish establishment, having been in England for more than a century. As a child, Rosalind accompanied my parents to London’s New West End Synagogue, founded by our great-great-grandfather among others; by the time she was an undergraduate she had dropped belief in any religion, but always remained consciously Jewish. None of us ever experienced antisemitism but growing up in the 1930s we were only too aware of Nazi horrors, and Rosalind joined my parents and other family members in helping Jewish refugees. Two refugee children came to join our family; one, a nine-yearold Austrian girl, became a friend to me. Rosalind kept in touch with her and very much enjoyed her company.

“Her greatest aesthetic pleasure was

She was my sister, and with the help of family memories and letters, I want to write about her other achievements, her background, her enthusiasms, hopes and worries. She didn’t marry, but I believe that was because she never met anyone she wanted to marry, not because she decided to dedicate herself to science – she was a splendid aunt and I’m sure she would have in mountain scenery”

Many of Rosalind’s closest friends were not Jews, but her close scientific colleagues were – above all, Vittorio Luzzati in Paris and Aaron Klug at Birkbeck College. Luzzati and Rosalind knew each other for some time before they discovered, to their surprise, that the other was Jewish. Rosalind’s strong secular

Judaism probably helped her international outlook, making her feel more European than English, at home on the continent, and even more at home on a visit to Israel’s Weizmann Institute.

Science dominated her life, but the countryside, mountains, walking and climbing were important to her. She loved travel, which meant going on local buses, seeking out remote places and staying in youth hostels. Her greatest aesthetic pleasure was in mountain scenery. In a 1947 letter she described hiking in the Alps:

“The most heavenly expedition I have ever done. …We started out in cloud at 4.30 am, and the cloud lifted suddenly at sunrise just as we came onto the glacier, revealing pink summits above a ‘mer de nuages’… I can only tell you that the sheer beauty of it made me weep.”

Traits of Rosalind’s character appeared in her childhood: her independent, clear thinking, logical mind, sense of humour, appreciation of the ridiculous, outspoken honesty and sense of justice. She enjoyed a mix of school activities – whether sport or studying Renaissance art – and always worked with thoroughness and care.From 1938 to 1941 she studied at Cambridge, a university under the shadow of an approaching war. Students and staff faced the reality of leaving to

16 JEWISHRENAISSANCE.ORG.UK JULY 2020

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