The Real Rosalind: The Truth About Rosalind Franklin’s DNA Discovery and How It Was Erased

In this thorough collaboration, Dunn (Perkin’s Perfect Purple) and Fox (The Mystery of Mystic Mountain) recount the life of chemist and X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958), the sexism she endured throughout her career, and the impact of her work on molecular biology and the understanding of DNA. As a child, Franklin is dubbed a math and science prodigy; at 17, high test scores earn her a place at Cambridge’s Newnham College. Upon graduating from Newnham, she pursued a doctorate in chemistry; throughout her educational tenure, her work at prominent labs furthered her studies in X-ray crystallography, which led to her refining techniques that would later prove useful in the exploration of DNA by allowing scientists to photograph evidence of its double helix structure. In 1951, after earning her doctorate and concluding a four-year research stint in Paris, she returned to London to work at King’s College Biophysics Lab. There, she encountered colleague Maurice Wilkins, whom dry text notes felt “unnerved” by Franklin’s capabilities as well as frustrated by rumors of his attraction to her. While intermittent sections detailing the scientific subjects addressed are somewhat dense, the information is enlivened by details of Franklin’s sharp, fearless observations of her male peers and their foibles. Includes brief biographies, an author’s note, and a glossary. Ages 11–up. Agent: (for Dunn and Fox) Erin Murphy, Aevitas Creative Management. (Apr.)