Portal:Viruses/Selected biography/4

Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer who made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA and viruses.

Franklin led pioneering research on the structure of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), a rod-like RNA virus, using X-ray crystallography. She first showed that, contrary to contemporary opinion, TMV virus particles were all of the same length. With Kenneth Holmes, she showed the virus's coat is composed of protein molecules arranged in helices. She designed and built a model of the virus to be exhibited at the 1958 World's Fair. She speculated that the virus is hollow, and correctly hypothesized that the RNA of TMV is single-stranded. Her work, together with that of Donald Caspar, revealed that the viral RNA is wound along the inner surface of the hollow virus. Her laboratory, which also included Aaron Klug, studied other plant viruses, including turnip yellow mosaic virus and viruses infecting potato, tomato and pea. Franklin also worked on icosahedral animal viruses, including poliovirus.

Franklin is commemorated in the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.