News archive 2008

Rosalind Franklin remembered

14 Apr 2008, PR 65/08

King’s College London will tonight host an event to mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Rosalind Franklin whose pioneering work at King’s was key to the discovery of the structure of DNA.



Professor Noreen Murray, molecular geneticist, and an alumna of King’s, Professor Raymond Gosling, Doctoral Assistant to Rosalind, and Professor Ellen Solomon, Head of the Division of Medical and Molecular Genetics at King’s, will be speaking at the event, which will be chaired by the Principal, Professor Rick Trainor.

Dr Rosalind Franklin, after whom the College’s Franklin-Wilkins Building is named, died 50 years ago on 16 April 1958, aged 37: some five years after her X-ray diffraction studies at King’s made a major contribution to the discovery of the structure of DNA. The photographic image, Photograph 51, that she captured in 1952 with Ray Gosling was the clearest of DNA and can lay claim to being the most important photograph ever taken.

The College is commemorating this anniversary to recognise the major contribution she made to one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century. This discovery answered a fundamental question in science, and laid the foundations of structural molecular biology as its known today.

The event will be held at the Strand Campus in the Edmond J. Safra Lecture Theatre at 18.00 and is open to all.

For more information please see ‘What’s on’.



Notes to editors

King’s College London
King’s College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher 2007) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King’s has 19,700 students from more than 140 countries, and 5,400 employees. King’s has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an annual income of approximately £400 million. An investment of £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.

King’s has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres - more than any other university.



Further information
Kate Moore, Public Relations Officer (Health Schools)
Public Relations Department
Email: kate.moore@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: 020 7848 4334



Next:
Review of the King's year
King’s shows way for London Leaders
2008 RAE results
£1.5m to study symmetries of the universe
Honorary recognition for King’s

Previous:
Academic Health Sciences Centre plans
First for King’s and NYU
Major investment at King’s for heart research
King’s academics top NHS research list
New treatment to detect and fight breast cancer


This information is provided by the Public Relations Department
Tel: 020-7848 3202  Fax: 020-7848 3739  Email: pr@kcl.ac.uk