Given that I wear a tribute to her work on my arm, it should come as no surprise that I try to sneak Rosalind Franklin’s story into my classes whenever I can, if for no other reason than to correct an incomplete history.  It was especially applicable this semester in my Scientific Thinking classes, as it raises many relevant issues involving research ethics, the understated role of women in science, and of course what is probably the most important biological discoveries ever.  A well written account of the story can be found here.  It is brief, but comprehensive, and was a required reading for my class.  On my final exam I included a question on Franklin, which I have been grading today.  The quality of answers has varied, but for the most part I have been pleased with the students’ responses.  And then I came to this:

After Dr Rosalind Franklin did much work on the DNA, she finally could find out new discoveries.  She had pictures of the DNA in her lab which was a completely significant invention at this time.

Ok.  Aside from the generic introduction, so far so good.  These aren’t science majors, remember.

Her boss took advantage of that and he managed on killing her in order to get all her work and he started to work on it.  He made an invention on the DNA and won the nobel prize based on her work.

Oh my.

All is lost, all is lost.  It’s all I’ve ever written.