3rd April 2014
This is a room in the The Eagle
pub in Cambridge where James
Female contributions to science
and the arts have not been
recognised historically
Weekly English Practice
English Coaching Projects’
No-Nobel Women!
Watson and Francis Crick
announced ‘their’ discovery of
DNA by saying,
groundbreaking: pioneering, innovative
shameful: disgraceful, scandalous
deduce: to reach a conclusion by reason
decipher: to determine the meaning of
something e.g. a code
“We have discovered the
secret of life”.
They never mentioned the vital
contributions made by a
woman scientist called
Rosalind Franklin.
!
Over the centuries, female researchers
have had to work as "volunteer" faculty
members, seen credit for significant
discoveries they've made assigned to male
colleagues, and been written out of
textbooks. They fought uphill battles to
achieve what they did, only to have the
credit attributed to their husbands or male
colleagues.
Here are two female researchers who did
groundbreaking work—and whose names
are likely unfamiliar for one reason:
because they are women.
* * * * * * Jocelyn Bell Burnell * * * * * *
Born in Northern Ireland in 1943, Jocelyn
Bell Burnell discovered pulsars in 1967
while still a graduate student in radio
astronomy at Cambridge University.
Bell Burnell discovered the recurring signals
given off by their rotation while analysing
data printed out on three miles of paper
from a radio telescope she helped
assemble.
The finding resulted in a Nobel Prize, but
the1974 award in physics went to Anthony
Hewish—Bell Burnell's supervisor—and
Martin Ryle, also a radio astronomer at
Cambridge University.
!
Where’s the photo!
of Rosalind?
If you visit Cambridge, don’t
hesitate to pop in and raise your
glass in a toast to all those
women scientists and pioneers
who have been shamefully ignored
over the years!
Photo © Robert Hextall
"She deserved credit for the discovery of lambda phage, her
work on the F fertility factor, and, especially, replica plating,"
wrote Stanley Falkow, a retired microbiologist at Stanford
University, “But she didn't receive it.”
* * * * * * * * * Rosalind Franklin * * * * * * * * * *
Born in 1920 in London, Rosalind Franklin used x-rays to
take a picture of DNA that would change biology. Hers is
perhaps one of the most well-known—and shameful—
instances of a researcher being robbed of credit. She was a
research associate in John Randall's laboratory at King's
College in London and soon encountered Maurice Wilkins,
who was leading his own research group studying the
structure of DNA.
Franklin and Wilkins worked on separate DNA projects, but
by some accounts, Wilkins mistook Franklin's role in
Randall's lab as that of an assistant rather than head of her
own project.
Meanwhile, James Watson and Francis Crick, both at
Cambridge University, were also trying to determine the
structure of DNA. They communicated with Wilkins, who at
some point showed them Franklin's image of DNA—known
as Photo 51—without her knowledge. Photo 51 enabled
Watson, Crick, and Wilkins to deduce the correct structure
for DNA, which they published in a series of articles in the
journal Nature in April 1953. Franklin also published in the
same issue, providing further details on DNA's structure.
Franklin's image of the DNA molecule was key to
deciphering its structure, but only Watson, Crick, and Wilkins
received the 1962 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for
their work.
This story was adapted from:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130519-womenscientists-overlooked-dna-history-science/
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Weekly English Practice
English Coaching Projects’
The Nobel Prize
“
has been awarded 807
times to men and 44 times to women (there have also been 23
awards to organisations).
The first woman to win a Nobel Prize was Marie Curie, who won
the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 with her husband, Pierre Curie,
and Henri Becquerel. Curie is also the only woman to have won
multiple Nobel Prizes; in 1911, she won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
(and is accordingly included twice in the total figure of 44 for female
laureates). Curie's daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, won the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry in 1935, making the two the only mother-daughter pair to have won Nobel Prizes.
Fifteen women have won the Nobel Peace Prize, twelve have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, ten
have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, four have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry,
two have won the Nobel Prize in Physics and one woman (in 2009) has won the Nobel Memorial
Prize in Economic Sciences.The most Nobel Prizes awarded to women in a single year was in 2009,
when five women became laureates.
Produced by Zapa eBooks S.L. What differences would more
women in positions of power at
work make?
Something to
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“
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(read the arti
cles on page 1
and page 2)
Why has it be
en difficult fo
r women
scientists to ga
in recognition?
• What did Jocelyn
Bell Burnell disc
over?
• Who did mistake di
d Wilkins mak
e
about Franklin
?
• What did Franklin
contribute to
the
discovery of DN
A?
• What is unique ab
out Marie Curri
e in
the history of
the Nobel priz
es?
• Why do you think
women have w
on
less Nobel priz
es than men?
• What can be done
to change this
?
•
What areas of life do women still suffer discrimination?
What are your ideas to change this?
Have quotas in
political parties
helped achieve
equality for women?
To publish your ebook contact us at [email protected]
Are women
discriminated
against in
sport?
http://weeklyenglishpractice.wordpress.com - twitter: englishcoaching - www.facebook.com/englishcoachingprojects - www.englishcoachingprojects.net - [email protected] - WEP 03/04/14
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