Author(s): Brenda Maddox

Biography & Memoir

'A most moving and important biography, as well as an impressive account of a major event in the history of science' Lewis Wolpert, Literary Review Although Rosalind Franklin took the crucial photograph of DNA revealing its double helix structure, her work was overlooked when, four years after her death, three men - Maurice Wilkins of King's College London, Francis Crick of the Cavendish Laboratory and James Watson of Cambridge - were awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of DNA. In this compelling biography of Franklin, Brenda Maddox tells the story of a remarkably single-minded, forthright and tempestuous young woman, who at the age of fifteen decided she wanted to be a scientist, but who was airbrushed out of the greatest scientific discovery of the twentieth century. 'Maddox is a dab hand at drawing a heroine out from behind the long shadows cast by men and her Franklin emerges as a determined, combative woman - a perfectionist who is plagued with self doubt' Vanessa Thorpe, Observer 'This magnificent biography gives a gripping yet nuanced account that resists the stock story-line of Franklin as the wronged heroine. What really happened is far more intriguing.' Gail Vines, Independent 'An exhilarating and vivid tale of scientific and personal politics at a time of rapid change in British science.' Jane Gregory, New Scientist