Rosalind Franklin was a British X-ray crystallographer who made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of viruses, coal, and graphite. Her most pivotal contribution, however, was in enabling scientists to understand the physical structure of nucleic acids. Her work on the X-ray diffraction images of DNA was revealed to Watson without her consent, allowing Watson and Crick to publish their findings first. Franklin died of ovarian cancer at age 37, four years before Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize.
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