Science & Nature · 2

Which scientist's unpublished X-ray diffraction images, shared by Maurice Wilkins, proved crucial to Watson and Crick's DNA model but sparked decades of controversy over credit?

Answer

Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin's X-ray diffraction data, including the famous Photograph 51, was shown to Watson without her knowledge via Maurice Wilkins, giving them a critical clue to DNA's helical structure.

💡 Did you know?

Maurice Wilkins, who shared the Nobel Prize, initially resented Watson and Crick's credit, and his role in providing Franklin's data remained contentious for decades afterward.

Other options people guess

  • Erwin Chargaff
  • Linus Pauling
  • Sir Lawrence Bragg

Topics

  • dna
  • rosalind-franklin
  • science-history
  • genetics

Know your science & nature trivia?

Play a free Science & Nature quiz and see how many you get right — no signup needed to start.

More Science & Nature facts

Science & Nature

What was the name of the critical X-ray diffraction image of DNA taken by Rosalind Franklin that was shown to James Watson without her knowledge in 1953?

Rosalind Franklin's critical X-ray crystallography image was shown to Watson without her knowledge, violating scientific ethics standards that would spark outrage if discovered today.

Science & Nature

Which scientist earned two separate Nobel Prizes in Chemistry — one for sequencing a protein and one for sequencing DNA?

Frederick Sanger won two separate Nobel Prizes in Chemistry for determining protein and DNA sequences—one of only four people ever.

Science & Nature

In which Nobel Prize category were James Watson and Francis Crick honored for synthesizing others' research into the DNA double-helix model?

Watson and Crick never conducted a single DNA experiment themselves; they built their famous model using data from others, winning the Nobel Prize for theoretical synthesis.

Science & Nature

According to a landmark 2014 study published in the journal Science, which human sense has by far the greatest capacity to distinguish unique stimuli?

Your nose can remember and distinguish over 1 trillion different scents, far surpassing your ability to see or hear distinct variations.

Science & Nature

Unlike Marie Curie, whose two Nobel Prizes were awarded in different scientific fields, Frederick Sanger's two Nobel wins were both in which single category?

Frederick Sanger won two separate Nobel Prizes in Chemistry for determining protein and DNA sequences—one of only four people ever.

Science & Nature

What is the name of the process by which plants lose water vapor through small pores in their leaves?

A single large oak tree can transpire over 40,000 gallons of water into the atmosphere in a single year — roughly enough to fill a backyard swimming pool.