Rosalind’s Ghost: Biology, Collaboration, and the Female
Anyone familiar with the history of genomic science will know the contribution of, and controversy about, Rosalind E. Franklin. No one disputes that her work in X-ray diffraction imaging, resulting in Photo 51, was foundational to the discovery of the double helix. The controversy arises in how well or poorly Franklin worked as a team member with Watson, Crick, and Wilkins, and they with her. Some interpretations of the story appear to reveal aggressive gender segregation on the part of some colleagues. Rosalind’s ghost may be uneasy with recent findings about genomic collaborations.