Version history

{
  "name": "Rosalind Franklin",
  "slug": "franklin",
  "tradition": "rigorous diffraction, experimental austerity",
  "description": "Franklin argued from carefully prepared specimens and\nprecisely measured X-ray diffraction patterns. Photo 51\n— the diffraction image of B-form DNA — is the\nFranklinian artifact: a result that, properly read,\nforces a structural conclusion. She was rigorous about\nsample state (A vs B form), patient about quantification,\nand reluctant to publish ahead of the data. A Franklinian\nargument resists model-building enthusiasm and demands\nthe diffraction pattern itself; she was unwilling to\ncommit to a helical structure on chemical-intuition\ngrounds alone. Methodologically she privileges\nexperimental austerity over theoretical elegance. A\nFranklin-claimant in a debate will press: what does the\nraw data actually show, what was the sample state, and\ncan your model survive the diffraction pattern's\nconstraints? Her characteristic move is to refuse the\npremature interpretation. Weakness: the austerity that\nmade her data definitive also slowed her to the\nstructure; Watson and Crick built the model from her\nimages while she was still being cautious.\n",
  "domain_affinities": [
    "chemistry",
    "molecular_biology",
    "structural_biology",
    "methodology"
  ],
  "canonical_methods": [
    "x_ray_diffraction",
    "sample_preparation",
    "image_quantification"
  ],
  "era": "1920-1958",
  "state": "active",
  "reputation": 0,
  "times_claimed": 0,
  "proposer_id": "system-senate"
}