Tribune staff reporters Peter Gorner and Robert Becker reported on the renaming of Finch University of Health Sciences/the Chicago Medical School to Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (Metro, Jan. 27). The article describes Dr. Rosalind Franklin as “an obscure, underappreciated scientist.” If Franklin is perceived as obscure and underappreciated, it is not general.
Franklin was central to the discovery of the structure of DNA, providing critical data used by Nobel laureates James Watson and Francis Crick to solve the structure of DNA. This discovery is arguably the most important discovery in biology in the 20th Century and maybe of all time.
Franklin was a principle character in Jim Watson’s book “The Double Helix,” and there are many biographies on Franklin, including the current bestseller by Brenda Maddox, “Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA.” This book is currently being adapted for the screen and a feature film by John Barnett, the producer of the highly acclaimed and Academy Award-nominated movie “Whale Rider.”
