2 ms·
It's funny that, apparently, the picture in question was taken by a male graduate student whose name no one knows (Raymond Gosling). I do think there's an inte
by slibhb 2y ago
It's funny that, apparently, the picture in question was taken by a male graduate student whose name no one knows (Raymond Gosling).
I do think there's an interesting dichotomy in science between wild conjectures and slow, plodding progress. But I'm not sure that Rosalind Franklin was actually an exemplar of the latter.
It seems clear that we need both methods but, for my money, we're a bit lacking on the wid conjecture side these days. More and more, exciting research is occurring outside of academia partly because academia is all-in on the slow, plodding kind of science.
- jhbadger 2y agoThe whole idea that Watson & Crick "stole" the data from Franklin was actually created by Watson himself in his not very truthful memoir "The Double Helix" because he thought that was funny (although his idea of humor is questionable). In reality, Gosling took the photo and Maurice Wilkins, who shared his graduate student Gosling with Franklin, gave the photo to Watson & Crick. People can certainly argue that Wilkins should have consulted with Franklin before sharing the data (and for that matter with Gosling, whose opinion never seems to be considered) but the idea that it was solely her data (or that she herself even took the photo which some accounts claim) is simply false.