NOVA: DNA - Secret of Photo 51

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Starring: Nova
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Nova
Studio: WGBH Boston
Release Date: 2007-04-24
On April 25, 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published their groundbreaking discovery of the double helix structure of DNA, the molecule essential for passing on our genes and the ''secret of life.'' But their crucial breakthrough depended on the pioneering work of another biologist–Rosalind Franklin. She would never know that Watson and Crick had seen a crucial piece of her data without her permission. This was an X-ray image, ''Photo 51,'' that proved to be a vital clue in their decoding of the double helix.

50 years later, NOVA investigates the shocking truth behind one of the greatest scientific discoveries and presents a moving portrait of a brilliant woman in an era of male-dominated science. Sadly, Franklin never lived to see her vital role in the discovery vindicated. While Watson and Crick went on to win the Nobel Prize in 1962, Franklin died in 1958, at 37, from ovarian cancer; and the Nobel is not awarded posthumously.

Hear the inside story from Maurice Wilkins, the colleague who showed her crucial x-ray to Watson; Raymond Gosling, Franklin’s Ph.D. student with whom she made Photo 51; and Nobel Prize winner Sir Aaron Klug, Franklin’s last collaborator, who shows new evidence of just how close Franklin came to making the vital double helix discovery herself.

Making It Up to Rosalind
This video is very informative, and I would recommend it to those who are interested in the history of one of the landmark discoveries of the last three generations. I did not know anything about x-ray crystallography, and this inspired me to read up on it. In view of James Watson's recent comments, maybe Rosalind Franklin does need some post-mortem defenders...but this video comes off in the vein of "those mean men! They were too stupid to develop their own theory, so they had to climb over a woman to come up with anything meaningful!". Power to Rosalind...may she receive the credit she deserves, but don't make her a victim!

Sexism Detailed But Not Named
Male scientists steal a female scientist's DNA work. They call her diminutives behind her back. They portray her as a shrew in their biographical book. They act as if she were a trivial part of their publications. Still, they win Nobel Prizes and she dies before the age of 40. In the same way that my pro-feminist sensibilities made it difficult to watch the film "North Country," it was very painful to watch the oppression described in this documentary.

This is very important for all female scientists to see. Like the Curies, R. Franklin's research may have played a role in her death. Though non-religious, R. Franklin was a Jewish woman and there is a Hebrew phrase written on her gravesite. Perhaps, she can be deemed an important figure in Jewish women's history texts and lists. I really hope that feminists, in Britain and across the globe, can organize to get Dr. Franklin a posthumous Nobel.

The work has female and male interviewees. The work conspicuously states that Sigourney Weaver narrates. Though her voice is recognizable, I didn't feel that Lt. Ellen Ripley was speaking to me as the actress told the facts.

Scientists often imply that they are beyond oppression and interpersonal matters. However, the history of science is marked with much sexism, racism, and other prejudices. This is one glaring example of that, but the word sexism is never used, surprisingly.