Rosalind Franklin recognized the helical structure of DNA before James Watson.

Exclusive: How did Rosalind Franklin miss the helix in her iconic DNA image? She didn’t New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51 ByTim Appenzeller https://www.science.org/content/article/how-did-rosalind-franklin-miss-helix-her-iconic-dna-image-she-didn-t #womeninstem

New findings show Rosalind Franklin had earlier X-ray crystallography photo revealing helical structure of DNA, and her notes about THAT photo showed she recognized it was helix. Explains why later photograph didn't have notes (and Watson took sole credit) https://www.science.org/content/article/how-did-rosalind-franklin-miss-helix-her-iconic-dna-image-she-didn-t

New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim that he, not Rosalind Franklin, was first to recognize the significance of famed photograph 51. The authors show that Rosalind had already recognized the helical structure in photograph 49, for which she made extensive notes. She calculated the length of each turn in the spiral and the number of bases “per turn of helix (if there is a helix).” Photo 51 was just a more refined version of 49. https://www.science.org/content/article/how-did-rosalind-franklin-miss-helix-her-iconic-dna-image-she-didn-t https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10739-026-09866-7 1/n

How did Rosalind Franklin miss the helix in her iconic DNA image? She didn’t https://www.science.org/content/article/how-did-rosalind-franklin-miss-helix-her-iconic-dna-image-she-didn-t New analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51