与诺贝尔奖擦肩而过的女科学家

英国女生物学家富兰克琳（1920～1958）是最早认定DNA具有双螺旋结构的科学家，并且运用X射线衍射技术拍摄到了清晰而优美的DNA照片，为探明其结构提供了重要依据，她还精确地计算出DNA分子内部结构的轴向与距离。

1956年富兰克琳被诊断出患有患癌症，手术后她仍坚持研究工作。她于1958年逝世，年仅38岁。4年后，沃森、克里克和威尔金斯因对DNA双螺旋结构的研究成果获得了诺贝尔生理学或医学奖，而富兰克琳榜上无名。因为诺贝尔奖不授予已逝世的科学家。

Four people in the England,back in 1953,stared at Photo 51. It wasn't much—a picture showing a black X.But three of these people won the Nobel Prize for figuring out what the photo really showed—the shape of DNA.The discovery brought fame and fortune to scientists James Watson,Francis Crick,and Maurice Wilkins.The fourth,the one who actually made the picture,was left out.

Her name was Rosalind Franklin."She should have been up there." says historian Mary Bowden."If her photos hadn't been there,the others couldn't have come up with the structure." One reason,Franklin was missing was that she had died of cancer four years before the Nobel decision.But now sholars doubt that Franklin was not only robbed of her life by disease but robbed of credit by her competitors.

At Cambridge University in the 1950s,Watson and Crick tried to make models by cutting up shapes of DNA's parts and then putting them together. In the meantime,at King's College in London,Franklin and Wilkins shone X-rays at the molecule.The rays produced patterns reflecting the shape.

But Wilkins and Franklin's relationship was a lot rockier than the celebrated teamwork of Watson and Crick.Wilkins thought Franklin was hired to be his assistant.But the college actually employed her to take over the DNA project.

What she did was produce X-rays pictures that told Watson and Crick that one of their early models was inside out.And she was not shy about saying so.That angered Watson,who attacked her in return."Mere inspection suggested that she would not easily bend.Clearly she had to go or be put in her place."

"As Franklin's competitors,Wilkins,Watson and Crick had much to gain by cutting her out of the little group of researchers." says historian Pnina Abir-Am. In 1962 at the Nobel Prize awarding ceremony,Wilkins thanked 13 colleagues by name before he mentioned Franklin.Watson wrote his book laughing at her.Crick wrote in 1974 that "Franklin was only two steps away from the solution."

No,Franklin was the solution."She contributed more than any other player to solving the structure of DNA.She must be considered a co-discoverer."Abir-Am says.This was backed up by Aaron Klug,who worked with Franklin and later won a Nobel Prize himself.Once described as the "Dark lady of DNA",Franklin is finally coming into the light.

译文：（为不懂英语的读者作了翻译以便于阅读，如有翻译不恰当的地方，感谢指正！）

让我们回到1953年，在英国的四个人，凝视着照片51.它并没什么—只是一张显示着一个黑色X的图片。但他们其中的三个因弄明白这张照片所真正显示的—DNA的形状而获得诺贝尔奖。这个发现为科学家詹姆士·沃森，弗朗西斯·克里克和莫尔斯·威尔金斯带来了名誉和运气。然而第四个，真正制作这张图片的人，被忽略了。

她的名字叫罗莎琳德·富兰克林。“她本应该在那儿的。”历史学家玛丽·鲍登说。“如果没有她的照片，其他人不可能提出这个结构。”富兰克林错过的一个原因是在诺贝尔奖决定的四年前她就因癌症去世了。但是现在的学者们怀疑富兰克林不仅被疾病夺去了生命，还被她的竞争者夺去了荣誉。

20世纪50年代在剑桥大学，沃森和克里克试图通过切割DNA部件的形状然后把它们拼在一起制作模型。与此同时，在英国的国王学院，富兰克林和威尔金斯把X射线照向了这个分子。射线制造了反映形状的图谱。

但是威尔金斯和富兰克林的关系要比沃森和克里克著名的合作摇摆得多。威尔金斯认为富兰克林是被雇佣来当他的助手的。但学院事实上雇佣她来接管DNA的研究项目。

她所做的就是制作了X射线的图片，这张图片告诉沃森和克里克他们早期的模型之一里外弄反了。而且她并不顾忌把这说出来。这激怒了沃森，他以怦击她作为回报。“只是看看就知道她不容易被屈服，显然她不得不走或是把自己放到合适的位置。”

“作为富兰克林的竞争者，威尔金斯，沃森和克里克通过把她逐出研究者的小团队可以得到很多。”历史学家Pnina Abir-Am说。在1962年的诺贝尔颁奖典礼上，威尔金斯按名字感谢了13位同事，然后才提到富兰克林。沃森在他的书中嘲笑她。克里克在1974年写到“富兰克林距真相就两步之遥。”

不，富兰克林就是真相。“她为揭示DNA的结构比其他任何一个竞争者都贡献得多。她必须被视为一个共同的发现者。”Abir-Am说。这被阿伦·克鲁格证实，他与富兰克林一同工作并且后来自己赢得了一个诺贝尔奖。曾被描述成“DNA阴影下的女士”，富兰克林，最终显现出来。