South London Women Artists April 2014 | Page 82

invited by Jennie Merrell Rosalind Franklin Her research at Kings College under John Randall between 1951-53 was crucial to the understanding of the structure of DNA. Her contribution was not fully acknowledged at the time. She died tragically early of ovarian cancer at the age of 38, two years before Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in part for their work on the structure of DNA. I chose her because she seemed to represent a particular generation of women born in the 20th century who had the possibility of further education and the hope of a career but found themselves sidelined in a male dominated working environment. South London Women Artists I’m Inside, Ring The Bell 83