ipl-logo

James D. Watson's The Double Helix

963 Words4 Pages

In the year 1968, James D. Watson published The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure in DNA fours years after winning the Nobel Prize alongside Francis Crick and Maurice Wilson. Watson provides an account of both of these figures in his text, but he also introduces another figure who remained hidden in light of Watson, Crick, and Wilson’s fame. This hidden figure was Rosalind Franklin whose story would be known as one of the greatest cases of injustice and sexism within the scientific community. It was Franklin’s work on DNA, specifically her crystal clear x-ray diffraction image of DNA labeled “photo 51,” that lead to the discovery of the structure of DNA and would be taken from her without any recognition. Almost …show more content…

Rather than focusing on her mind as he does with Francis Crick, he is fixated with her appearance and lack of femininity. According to Watson, “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 (Watson, 1998).” In the paragraph previous to the one where he goes into elaborate detail on her appearance, he professes that she is a highly skilled crystallographer that is capable of conducting expert scientific research. However, using the sarcastic nickname of Rosy, he states that she created more problems in the Wilkins lab because “she claimed that she had been given DNA for her own problem and would not think of herself as Maurice’s assistant (Watson, 1998).” In his villainous characterization of Franklin, he makes the claim that because she would not submit to Wilkins “Rosy had to go or be put in her place (Watson, 1998).” Although Watson does not explicitly say this, his written work implies that Franklin was a woman who asserted dominance. In comparison to Francis Crick who Watson praises for his characterization as a dominant figure, Franklin is harshly criticized for her dominance based on her gender and femininity. Being assertive as a woman is something that deviates from the gender societal stereotype that women are supposed be submissive beings and Watson is fixated on this. The woman who ardently researched DNA and discovered the structure of DNA through her skills as an accomplished crystallographer was reduced by Watson to nothing more than a feminist who could not keep her emotions under control and was better suited in “another person’s lab (Watson,

Show More
Related

Summary Of The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks

1243 Words | 5 Pages

In an interview with Debra DeBruin, Ph.D., director of the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics, journalist Erin McHenry questioned her about the ethical issues with the Lack’s HeLa cell case. The family never understand what all was going on. They were never told any information about what their family member was truly going through, they just knew about the cancer, completely uniformed about the HeLa cell discovery. The information on the cells was out of reach to the Lack family. It wasn’t until 2013 that the Lack’s family received some reimbursement for the Henrietta’s contribution to science when a European Molecular Biology Laboratory sequenced and published Henrietta’s genome without family

Read More

Benjamin Franklin's The Speech Of Miss Polly Baker

168 Words | 1 Pages

Although Benjamin Franklin was well known as an inventor, a Post Master General, and “One of the Founding Fathers of the United States”, he was also known for being a leading author of his time. Among all his works of writing, “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker” caught my attention immediately due to the content of his writing. Even though the exact date it was written is unknown (but most likely in 1746), it was first published in The General Advertiser, on April 15, 1747, pseudonymously. It tells of a woman being on trial for having her fifth child out of wedlock, even though she has been punished for it previously. Throughout the speech she justifies her actions by telling the court that she alone could not make a baby, but yet she is the

Read More

Speech Of Polly Baker

274 Words | 2 Pages

Franklin wrote a speech "The Speech of Polly Baker", this speech uses many syllogisms. The speech is about a women named Polly Baker who is arguing a case in court, she is being charged five times for having children without being married. Polly Baker questions why she is being charged for that and why that law even exists. Polly states "This may be agreeable to the Laws, and I don't dispute it; but since Laws are sometimes unreasonable in themselves, and therefore repealed, and others bear too hard on the Subject in particular severe with regard to me, who have always lived in an inoffensive Life in the Neighborhood where I was born...(921). She thinks this law is very unreasonable and she states that she is a good women and she shouldn't

Read More

Review Of Hope Jahren's 'Lab Girl'

909 Words | 4 Pages

In a community filled with male scientists, Jahren was cast out as unworthy and dense. “[P]asty middle-aged men … regarded me as they would a mangy stray that had slipped in through an open basement window” (Jahren 129). Because of her gender, the other scientists treated her as though she did not and was not a real scientist. Despite being discriminated against, Jahren still continued with her work. She did not let others’ opinions discourage her.

Read More

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

484 Words | 2 Pages

Since the 2010 release of Rebecca Skloot’s New York Times bestselling non-fiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, many people both in and outside the scientific community are at least aware of the story of Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells . The almost-mythical tale of the immortal HeLa cell line, taken from Henrietta Lacks’s cancer-ridden cervix and grown in culture for more than sixty years now, has evolved and spread throughout the scientific and popular imaginary , surfacing in accounts of the miraculous power and possibility of scientific research and debates surrounding medical ethics . While HeLa was used to develop the polio vaccine, continues to be of use in the research of AIDS, leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, and a host of other medical conditions, and even sent up in the first space missions to test the conditions of human cells in zero gravity, the cell line also carries with it the history of the woman in whom it originated, the history of slavery and racism in America, and the entanglement of race, gender, class, and sexuality in the sciences.

Read More

Henrietta Lacks Impact On Society

442 Words | 2 Pages

Her cells have been used to cure countless diseases, test human immunity, understand the effect of certain drugs and radiation on people, test weapons, and so on. Her family knew of her death, but were unaware that her cells were still alive years after her death, and they have never compensated for the profits of the million dollar industry the cells have generated. They spent their childhoods verbally, sexually, and physically abused and their adult lives in and out of prison or plagued by inherited bad health. Her children couldn’t even afford the health insurance to care for diseases their mother’s cells have helped to cure. Until this book was published, no one was aware of who this woman was despite her tremendous, (yet unintended) contribution to

Read More

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks By Rebecca Skloot

1150 Words | 5 Pages

Robertson Davies, a Canadian novelist, once wrote, “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” We have the power to decipher between the images before us and convince ourselves that what we are seeing is truly what we make it out to be. In Rebecca Skloot’s novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot tells the story of a woman named Henrietta Lacks with immortal cells. Henrietta’s cells were used for science and stirred up turbulent debates between scientists, doctors, politicians, civilians, and others. The ethical backing to the research and testing done with HeLa cells, the abbreviation for Henrietta’s immortal cells, was, and in some ways still is, the main topic concerning Henrietta’s cells.

Read More

Scientific Revolution Dbq

562 Words | 3 Pages

During this time women were viewed as less than men, anything that women would do would be overlooked. Margaret Cavendish wrote, “ For though the muses, graces, and sciences, are all of the female gender, ...they would turn all from females into males, so great is grown the self-conceit of the masculine and the disregard of the female sex.” (Doc 9). Male scientist were considered to be more important and would be considered correct, contrary women who were educated and conducted scientific experiments would be disregarded along with their work. Henry Oldenbury further proves this when he says that, “ Friendship among men is a great aid to the investigation and elucidation of the truth.”(doc

Read More

Henrietta Lacks Sacrifice

934 Words | 4 Pages

Rebecca Skloot, the writer of The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks, brings to light many unjust acts committed by those in the scientific and medical field. Skloot reveals that many lay victim to scientists, one of which is Henrietta Lacks. The book is written about one woman, Henrietta, who changed the field of science but did so without her knowledge. Skloot does well to acknowledge these topics through her use of imagery. Through Skloot’s use of imagery she was able to show the many injustices enacted by our scientific community.

Read More

Mrs Purkapile Analysis

103 Words | 1 Pages

I believe Benjamin Franklin would not be happy with Mrs. Purkapile. Reason being he once said. “The likeliest Way, either to obtain a good Husband, or to keep one so, is to be Good yourself.” Throughout this text Mrs. Purkapile has said she only stays with her husband because she does not want to harm her name. " And out of respect for my own character I refused to be drawn into a divorce By the scheme of a husband who had merely grown tired Of his marital vow and duty."

Read More

James Watson The Double Helix

1040 Words | 5 Pages

Included in this team of scientists was a man who became one of Watson’s closest friends. Francis Crick was in opposition of the piece and vocalized it plenty of times. The British molecular biologist, neuroscientist and biophysicist helped discover the helical shape but was the most angered by Watson’s approach to sharing the information and how they came to their scientific conclusions concerning DNA. He also believed its portrayal of fellow scientists, would degrade their professionalism. Along with Crick, physicist and molecular biologist Maurice Wilkins, had a firm argument against the book’s publication for similar reasons.

Read More

Benjamin Franklin's The Speech Of Miss Polly Baker

357 Words | 2 Pages

Out of the two satires by Benjamin Franklin, my favorite one was "The Speech of Miss Polly Baker". While reading I found the story very interesting. Franklin wrote "The speech of Miss Polly Baker" as a fiction to present his idea of feminism and gender inequality. With the help of the main character Polly Baker, Franklin found a genuine way to demonstrate his frustrations towards society. At the beginning, Miss Baker pleas to Judge in response to being accused of giving birth to a child.

Read More

Miss Polly Baker Speech Analysis

508 Words | 3 Pages

Benjamin Franklin uses humor in his speech in order to criticize society at the time. Polly Baker has 5 children out of wedlock in this story. This is a completely ridiculous idea for the time as it was considered a crime and a sin. In addition she has received numerous punishments, corporal and monetary in nature. In the speech Miss Baker laments to the court about how heavily she has been punished while those that fathered the children were not.

Read More

Western Beauty: Exploring Questions Raised By Petrarchan Conceit

1869 Words | 8 Pages

Unfortunately, these quotes don’t do justice to Madam Curie by elaborately detailing the contributions she made to science and medicine, but they allow me to briefly establish her as an important figure in the history of science and (of particular interest to us) the history of gender equality. In doing this, they also allow me to pose the following question: could Madam Curie have accomplished as much or any of what she did if Henri Becquerel, Pierre Curie, or any of the other men in her life had maintained the stranglehold that patriarchal societies have traditionally imposed on women (the kind of stranglehold that the Petrarchan conceits arguably contribute to)? If Pierre Curie had been the kind of man who demanded that his wife spend her time making herself look pretty instead of working in the lab, we might have developed X-ray technology much later, which would have cost history more lives. This is the effect that one emancipated woman had one history. Imagine the positive differences that could have been made by even a fraction of the countless women who have been shackled throughout history.

Read More

Period Of Enlightenment

275 Words | 2 Pages

The study of mental processes such as problem solving, learning, memory, retention and perception in response to stimuli/ information intake is Cognitive Psychology. According to Solso (2008), this branch of psychology has the longest history, but is only as recently named as the 1960s when the first textbook putting together all the topics encompassed in this discipline. Early philosophers questioned where knowledge came from and began to divide themselves into those who believed knowledge is learned through experience (empiricists) and those who felt knowledge is something preexisting in ourselves at birth (nativists). During the Period of Enlightenment is when psychology became an accepted study.

Read More

More about James D. Watson's The Double Helix

Related Topics

Open Document