Rosalind Franklin: In life, in legacy, in opera

We spoke to Brian Sutton, Emeritus Professor of Molecular Biophysics in the Randall Centre for Cell & Molecular Biophysics at King’s and scientific adviser for the opera, to find out more about Rosalind Franklin’s work at King’s, the legacy she has left behind, and how he became involved with the upcoming opera.

First, could you tell us a bit more about how you came to join the department where Rosalind Franklin worked?

A few years after completing my doctorate at Oxford, which involved mainly X-ray crystallography, I was offered a Lectureship at King’s to join what was then the Biophysics Department.

When I joined King’s more than 35 years ago, I knew I was joining a department with this very rich heritage and was very proud to do so – it was the first biophysics department to be established anywhere in the world. At that time, 35 years before me, Rosalind Franklin was recruited to King’s by John (later Sir John) Randall, Wheatstone Professor of Physics, who set up and became the first Director of the Medical Research Council Biophysics Research Unit in the Department of Physics. That unit evolved into the Biophysics Department, with labs in Drury Lane, which morphed into the Randall Institute, and then into the Randall Centre for Cell & Molecular Biophysics, as is it known today, located at the Guy’s campus.

What was the focus of Rosalind Franklin’s research at King’s?

At the time, nobody knew what a gene was. They knew that the material that constituted genes was in the cell nucleus, but when you purified cell nuclei you found both protein and DNA. So, was it the protein or the DNA that was the genetic material?

Randall thought it was DNA. Maurice Wilkins, Deputy Director of the unit, had already begun work to try to understand its structure, and had captured some early X-ray diffraction images of DNA. Randall wanted to recruit someone with expertise in crystallography and, in particular, the study of partially disordered structures, and was aware of Franklin’s work. At the time, she was working in Paris using X-ray crystallography among other methods to study the micro-structure of coal. She had studied coal for her PhD during the war when it was important to understand how charcoal could be used as an absorption material in gas masks.

In January 1951, Randall recruited her to King’s to lead the DNA project, and to take on the work that Wilkins had started.

In April this year, Rosalind Franklin’s story will be told in a new way. How did your involvement with the upcoming opera Rosalind come about?

As an X-ray crystallographer, my science is essentially the same as Franklin's science. So, I understood exactly what she was doing when I read her notebooks. The Archives at King's on the Strand campus have a lot of materials, including Franklin's original camera that she used to take Photograph 51. I've been helping King’s over the years to show people who are interested in Franklin, not only the artefacts in the Archives and the locations on campus where her laboratory used to be, but also explain the science behind her work. That could be individual visitors, groups of overseas university students, or indeed several members of the Franklin family on one memorable occasion. I also gave the cast for the West End play Photograph 51 a tour of Franklin’s old labs and a talk about her work. I was the scientific adviser for the play, which was a wonderful experience. I like to think I taught Nicole Kidman, who played Franklin in the play, everything she knows about crystallography!

Anyone who approaches King’s Archives to find out more about Franklin is sent in my direction. It's a rather special role, which I’m very happy to have. I was very pleased when I was introduced to Peter Hugh White (composer) and Clare Heath (librettist), to help with the new opera. I love music, and I especially love opera, so a project that combines both of these together with my passion for crystallography was irresistible.

How is Rosalind Franklin’s legacy still seen in the Randall Centre, and beyond, today?

Franklin’s discovery and our understanding of DNA underpins much of the work within the Centre and beyond, and has been critically important for virtually all biomedical science.

In the Centre, X-ray crystallography is still an important technique for determining biomolecular structures, and there is a focus still on nucleic acid, in particular RNA. Franklin’s work here involved X-ray diffraction studies of fibres – to capture Photograph 51, the purified DNA had to be mixed with a little water to form a gel, and carefully drawn up into thin fibres before firing X-rays at them to record their diffraction patterns. Members of the Muscle Biophysics group in the Centre have used X-ray diffraction of fibrous structures within muscle cells to study muscle contraction in health and disease.

Beyond her scientific legacy, Franklin’s story and experience prompts us to think about much more. I have found that many scientists still see her as an inspirational figure in science, not only for her work, but because of the barriers faced by women in science at the time – some of which still exist today. Each year, the Centre hosts students from a girls’ school in London and we tell them about Rosalind and her work. The school awards a Rosalind Franklin Prize to the student who makes the most effort to improve their chances of studying science or medicine at university.

Franklin’s story also makes us think about the importance of good research management. There was friction between Franklin and Maurice Wilkins, as they were both under the impression that they would be leading the DNA project. This could have undoubtedly been managed better by Randall when he recruited Franklin to King’s.

There is also an ethical dimension to the story, which is still relevant in the research world today. Wilkins showed Photograph 51 to James Watson, from Cambridge, which ultimately gave him and Francis Crick, if not all the information, but certainly the spur they needed, to build their Nobel Prize winning model of the DNA double helix. Wilkins should not have shown Watson the photograph without Franklin’s knowledge, and there was very little acknowledgement of Franklin’s work and role in this discovery at the time.

She was a wonderfully talented scientist, who went on to do extraordinary work on viruses after leaving King’s, before her untimely death at the age of only 37, and I’m glad she now has the recognition she deserves.

How do you feel about seeing Rosalind Franklin’s story told on stage in the opera?

The opera will be performed in the College Chapel at the Strand campus, a space which is essentially unchanged since Franklin was at King’s, and only steps away from where she worked.

I know that to hear Rosalind performed (indeed premièred) in the Chapel, with its special atmosphere, wonderful acoustic, and looking just as it did when Franklin was working here, will surely make for truly magical experience.

Rosalind is composed by Peter Hugh White with a libretto by Clare Heath, and is directed by James Hurley, conducted by Mark Austin, and produced by Helix Music. The opera will be premiered at King’s on 21 and 22 April 2026.

Visit the Helix Music website to learn more about the opera, and for ticket sales.