Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July, 1920 - 16 April, 1958) was a British physical chemist and crystallographer who made important contributions to the understanding of the fine structures of coal and graphite, DNA and viruses.

Research on tobacco mosaic virus

Tobacco mosaic virus was the first virus to be identified (1886). Since electron microscopy revealed that virus crystals form inside infected plants, it made sense to isolate this virus for study by X-ray crystallography. Tobacco mosaic virus was the first virus to be purified (1935). Early X-ray diffraction images for tobacco mosaic virus had been collected befor World War II. In 1954 James Watson deduced that the tobacco mosaic virus had a helical structure. Franklin obtained high quality images that confirmed Watson's deduction{{ref|TMV}}.

Related Topics:
Tobacco mosaic virus - Electron microscopy - X-ray crystallography

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