Rosalind Franklin was so much more than the 'wronged heroine' of DNA

[John ONeill]

3. Rosalind Franklin

'Watson and Crick stole her data from her desk drawer'
It's actually a lot more complicated than that. The Nobel for discovering DNA's structure was actually awarded to THREE scientists - Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins. Wilkins was originally from New Zealand. (It's nice that my country had a representative at the start of the revolution in biology, just as Lord Rutherford was at the start of the revolution in physics - even though Enzed currently proclaims itself nuclear-free and GE free.)
Wilkins had already made X-ray photos of DNA samples that suggested a helix, and was still working on them. However, the laboratory director had told Franklin that her team was the only one working on the problem, but had not told Wilkins the same. Franklin had the best sample of DNA to work on, but she had already told Watson and Crick that their model was wrong ( which it was - it was inside out .) She was about to leave King's College, but told her research partner, Raymond Gosling, to show Wilkins a particularly clear X-ray she had taken of the 'B' form of DNA. Wilkins showed this to Crick and Watson, and then checked their correct model which Franklin's work helped inspire.
Franklin died before the Nobel was awarded, and so was not eligible to share it - it's only awarded to the living. While recuperating from an operation on her tumours, she stayed with Francis Crick, and formed a strong friendship with his wife, Odile.