sign in sign up
<<
Home , Anne Sayre, Rosalind Franklin

Cover Story Featu red Scientist: The Rosalind DNA Franklin: "Bold

John R. Jungck Experimentalist" Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/46/8/430/86225/4447893.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021

On April 25th, 1953, three papers on the struc- Thus, it is disheartening to see a biographer cite ture of DNA appearing in profoundly 's work as "not characterized by changed . Only the one by great originality of thought." This same biog- and still seems to receive much at- rapher, the distinguished biology historian, Robert tention. The primary authors of the other two pa- Olby, nonetheless raises the same contradictions as pers were and Rosalind Franklin. above. He describes Franklin as a "bold experi- While by "honest Jim" Watson mentalist" and "a deft experimentalist, keenly ob- (1968) changed many people's perception of sci- servant and with immense capacity for taking ence and rankled many more because of the chau- pains. As a result she was able with difficult mate- vinistic treatment of "Rosy" Franklin, I shall focus rial to achieve a remarkable standard of resolution on what has been largely ignored in our apprecia- in her X-ray diagrams" (Olby 1972). tion of these scientists, especially Franklin. While Similarly, (1975, p. 84) fleetingly de- one of Franklin's biographers, Anne Sayre, spends scribes Franklin's skill: "When Rosalind was con- much space defending Franklin's role in this major fronted with DNA-an amorphous substance, diffi- discovery of our century, she only briefly discusses cult to handle experimentally, tiresomely recalci- Franklin's tremendous skill as an experimentalist. trant from a crystallographer's viewpoint, requiring Laboratory craftspersons and exquisite experimen- acute perceptiveness, if the scanty data it provided talists are frequently neglected in the "Great Man" were to be interpreted at all-she was neither in- history of , and this has serious conse- experienced, nor lacking in the needed arts and in- quences for our students and for how science is stincts. And it was DNA that she encountered conducted. when she went to King's College." In her book, Who can recall Galileo's lens grinder? Do biolo- Sayre does reprint some of Franklin's results from gy students know who invented the centrifuge, an actual report, but the only view of laboratory the electrophoresis apparatus, the electron micro- we get shows the political infighting and the scope, and pH meter? Once widely distributed, infrastructure. who used these inventions most artfully to sepa- What does it take to be a "bold experimen- rate organelles, to purify a DNA molecule, to ob- talist"? Frequently, students feel badly because tain the best picture of a nucleosome, or to meas- they are good only in the lab and not at the the- ure acid rain in a remote mountain lake? oretical material of lectures and exams. Too often, Stories about genius such as Newton's falling as well, lab time is dropped first when time is cru- apple have done much to create a folklore that sci- cial, supplies budgets sparse, or class sizes too ence is associated with individual brilliance only large. But where is the wellspring of science if no witnessed in an eureka experience or by theoretical superb experimentalists are in the offing. Hillary insight. Tremendous attention to detail, precision, Rose feels that science needs to change so that it and repetition in experimental work is as impor- integrates the heart, the brain, and the hand. The tant to revolutionary science as theory. Through distinctions among theory, practice, and concern careful experiments and construction of new tools for morality all dissolve in doing good science. by perceptive and skillful practitioners we are able The contributions of such pioneering experimen- to see or test something totally novel. Cover Story continued on p. 472

430 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 46, NO. 8, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1984 4) The specific amino acid is carried Transcription,and Translation is cer- on the opposite end of the tRNA tainly more complex than described BIOLOGYLESSON TWO from the anticodon-it is always in this abbreviatedexplanation of the attached to the tRNA at the trip- chart. However, I have found that the flow chart does an adequate job let CCA. In the process of attach- Behold the earthworm. conveying basic information about ing the amino acid to the tRNA, of Blind, nucleic acids to students. known as acylation,ATP is used as Slimy and the energy source as shown below: Restricted ATP AMP + P P Acknowledgement: To an unappetizing diet. ENZYME Mr. James Shepler, Design and Drafting Services, Hershey Foods Pity the earthworm not: + Corporate Technical Center, Her- Each he Mg ^ shey, PA. Is a she, tRNA + And each she amino acid tRNA-amino References: A he, acid complex Simultaneously. Arms, K., and Camp, P.S. (1982). Biology. ENZYME = AN AMINO ACYL (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Saunders Col- The worm lege Publishing, 122-153. TRANSFERRNA SYNTHETASE Rejects (a different one for each amino acid) Curtis, H. (1979). Biology.(3rd ed.). New Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/46/8/430/86225/4447893.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 York:Worth Publishers, Inc., 251-299. The 5) The next amino acid-tRNA com- Denhardt, D.T. (1983). Replication of Apparent plex attaches to the "A" site when DNA. Carolina Biology Readers. Bur- Possibility the ribosome shifts and the grow- lington, NC: CarolinaBiological Supply Of ing peptide tRNA complex goes to Company. Self-sufficiency Jackson, R.J. (1978). Biosynthesis. the "P" site on the ribosome Carolina Biology Readers. Burlington, (translocation). NC: Carolina Biological Supply Com- And 6) This basic process continues to join pany. ElectsInstead the peptide on the "P" site (pep- Kirk, D.L. (1980). BiologyToday (3rd ed.). To tidyl transferase reaction) to the New York: Random House, Inc., Enjoy amino acid in the "A" site until 483-557. Dual Mutuality. the polypeptide is completed. Travers, A.A. (1978). Transcription of DNA. Carolina Biology Readers. Bur- Whee! Whee! One must understand that the lington, NC: CarolinaBiological Supply Donald S. Sale process of Replication, Company. complete VirginiaDepartment of Education

Cover Story: The DNA Helix RosalindFranklin: "Bold Experimentalist" Continuedfrom p. 430

talists as Rosalind Franklin will have to become Dresden, D. (1984). Inside the double helix. The story of much more widely and frequently acknowledged Rosalind Franklin (A play). Madison, WI: Broom Street for us to develop and reward the skills and dedi- Theater. Franklin, R. & Gosling, R.G. (1953). Molecular configura- cation required to take the considerable "pain" tion in sodium thymonucleate. Nature 171, 740-741. and effort to obtain detailed, precise observations. Klug, A. (1968). Rosalind Franklin and the discovery of To say that Rosalind Franklin, like many other the structure of DNA. Nature 219, 808-810, 843-844. women, is good only in the lab, implies a false, Olby, R. (1972). Rosalind Elsie Franklin. In Gillispie, elitist, and sexist distinction between theory and C.C. (Ed.). Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 5, 139-142. Sayre, A. (1975). Rosalind Franklin and DNA. New York: practice. To conduct science at its best we need to W.W. Norton & Co. democratizeits practice and promote full participa- Watson, J.D. (1968). The Double Helix. Reprinted in tion, collaboration,and recognition by all involved. Stent, G.S. (Ed.). Norton Critical Edition with text, com- mentary, reviews & original papers. New York: W.W. References Norton & Co. (1980).

Baltimore, D. (1984). The brain of a . Science 84, John Jungck 149-151. editor

472 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 46, NO. 8, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1984