What was the name of the research unit at King's College where Rosalind Franklin worked?

The research unit at King’s College where Rosalind Franklin worked was the Biophysics Research Unit. It operated with support from Britain’s Medical Research Council and investigated biological structures using physical methods, especially X-ray diffraction.

Franklin joined the unit in January 1951 as a research associate. John Randall, its director, redirected her from planned work on proteins and lipids to DNA fibres, an area then attracting intense scientific interest. Franklin’s expertise in X-ray analysis made her central to the unit’s DNA research.

Working with PhD student Raymond Gosling, Franklin produced a series of diffraction photographs, including the famous Photo 51. The unit also included Maurice Wilkins and other researchers, although misunderstandings over supervision and access to data created serious tensions.

A common mix-up is to call Franklin’s workplace simply the Physics Department. King’s College’s physics facilities were important, but her research was conducted within the specialised biophysics unit, which later became part of the institution’s long-running Randall tradition in cell and molecular biophysics.