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The discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA can be credited to three British scientists: James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. But their breakthrough would have been impossible without the work of a brilliant molecular biologist and crystallographer named Rosalind Franklin. In 1962, when the three men were awarded a Nobel Prize for their discovery, Franklin’s name wasn’t even mentioned. Tragically, she had died of cancer, four years earlier at age 37, probably a result of radiation exposure she suffered while taking the x-ray photographs of the DNA that were directly responsible for decoding its structure. NOVA investigates the life of Rosalind Franklin and her unsung contribution to one of science’s greatest discoveries.

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