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A review by greeniezona
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox
4.0
When asked to name women in science, Rosalind Franklin is always high on my list. Yet before reading this book, I knew only the barest facts about her: that she was gifted at x-ray crystallography, that Watson & Crick's DNA model would have been impossible (or really, terribly inaccurate) without her, and that her results were used by them in a questionable and poorly acknowledged manner. That's it. It was high time I read this book.
Thoroughly researched, this seems as an authoritative account of Franklin's life as one is likely to get. It starts slow, with an extensive exploration of Franklin's family -- parents, grandparents, uncles, their status, etc. I am sure it was helpful in establishing a complete portrait of Rosalind, but it was a bit of a chore to slog through.
But once Rosalind was on the scene, it was hard not to adore (and later sympathize with) her. She was smart, opinionated, and driven -- qualities the world of science (as well as the world in general) was badly prepared to appreciate in a woman. Still, she forged a way for herself, and authored an amazing number of peer-reviewed publications on some of the most pressing scientific problems of the day.
Surprisingly, at the end of the book I was less irritated on Franklin's behalf, and more just irritated (in a tired way) with Watson's immature self-aggrandizement, and disillusioned with the whole Nobel process. The primary difference between this book and The Double Helix is that Watson's little book is still clinging to a narrative in which great scientific breakthroughs are made by one or two people thinking in a room, whereas this book makes a solid case that modern science is group work.
Sometimes dry, but highly recommended.
Thoroughly researched, this seems as an authoritative account of Franklin's life as one is likely to get. It starts slow, with an extensive exploration of Franklin's family -- parents, grandparents, uncles, their status, etc. I am sure it was helpful in establishing a complete portrait of Rosalind, but it was a bit of a chore to slog through.
But once Rosalind was on the scene, it was hard not to adore (and later sympathize with) her. She was smart, opinionated, and driven -- qualities the world of science (as well as the world in general) was badly prepared to appreciate in a woman. Still, she forged a way for herself, and authored an amazing number of peer-reviewed publications on some of the most pressing scientific problems of the day.
Surprisingly, at the end of the book I was less irritated on Franklin's behalf, and more just irritated (in a tired way) with Watson's immature self-aggrandizement, and disillusioned with the whole Nobel process. The primary difference between this book and The Double Helix is that Watson's little book is still clinging to a narrative in which great scientific breakthroughs are made by one or two people thinking in a room, whereas this book makes a solid case that modern science is group work.
Sometimes dry, but highly recommended.