Science is neutral, in terms of its methods and techniques but scientists are all products of the culture in which they are raised. This affects the kinds of questions they ask; the way the work on a project and who they choose to work with.

A discription of Rosalind Franklin, who worked with Maurice Wilkins, on DNA research, by James Watson.

"Moreover, it was increasingly difficult to take Maurice's mind off his assistant, Rosalind Franklin.

Not that he was at all in love with Rosy, as we called her from a distance. Just the opposite. - almost from the moment she arrived in Murice's lab, they began to upset each other. Maurice, a beginner in X-ray diffraction work, wanted some professional help and hoped that Rosy, a trained crystallographer, could speed up his reserch. Rosy, however, did not see the situation this way. She claimed that she had been given DNA for her own problem and would not think of herself as Maurice's assistant.

I suspect that in the beginning Maurice hoped that Rosy would calm down. yet mere inspection suggested that she would not easily bend. By choice she did not emphasize her feminine qualities. Though her features were strong, she was not unattractive and might have been quite stunning had she taken even a mild interest in clothes. This she did not. There was never lipstick to contrast with her straight black hair, while at the age of thirty-one her dresses showed all the imagination of English bluestocking adolescents. So it was quite easy to imagine her the product of an unsatisfied mother who unduy stressed the desirability of professional careers that could save bright girls from marriages to dull men. But this was not the case. Her dedicated, austere life could not be thus explained - she was the daughter of a solidly comfortable, erudite banking family.

Clearly Rosy had to go or be put in her place. The former was obviously preferable because, given her beligerent moods, it would be very difficult for Maurice to maintain a dominant position that would allow him to thing unhindered about DNA. Not that he didn't seee some reson for her complaints - King's had two combination rooms, one for men and the other for women, certainly a thing of the past. But he was not responsible, and it was no pleasure to bear the cross for the added barb that the women's combination room maintained dingily pokey whereas money had been spent to make life agreeable for him and his friends when they had their morning coffee.

Unfortunately, Maurice could not see any way to give Rosy the boot. To start with, she had been given to think that she had a position for several years. Also there was no denying she had a good brain. If she could only keep her emotions under control, there would be a good chance that she could really help him. But merely wishing for relations to improve was taking something of a gamble, for Cal Tech's fabulous genius Linus Pauling was not subject to the confines of British fair play. Sooner or later, Linus, who had just turned fifty, ws bound to try for the most important of all scientific prizes....The real problem then was Rosy. The thought could not be avoided that the best home for a feminist was in another person's lab."

As it is clear from his description, Rosy should spend more time taking care to make herself presentatble to men and out of the lab. She is too emotional and just won't stay in her place. She thinks she's an equal and wants to be treated that way. Substitute any man's name for hers and see how the paragraph reads.

Watson wants in on the research but is not invited so his real interest is to get on the team but he doesn't know x-ray technology or crystallography so he has little expertise to bring. Her's was crucial in finding the solution to the proble. Are we suprised to find that Rosalind Franklin's name is not among those who received the Noble Prize for DNA work?

from The Double Helix p. 20-21.

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