Which organization made Franklin a National Honorary Member in 1982?

Iota Sigma Pi made Franklin a National Honorary Member in 1982.

The recognition was posthumous: Franklin had died in 1958, aged 37, after making major contributions to X-ray crystallography and molecular biology. Iota Sigma Pi is a United States national honor society for women in chemistry, and National Honorary Member is its highest professional distinction.

Franklin’s scientific career crossed chemistry, physics, and biology. At King’s College London she used X-ray diffraction to study DNA, and at Birkbeck College she later investigated virus structures. Her experimental work became central to understanding DNA’s form and to the wider development of structural biology.

The honor is easy to confuse with awards from general scientific organizations such as Sigma Xi or Phi Beta Kappa. Those groups have different missions and membership traditions. Iota Sigma Pi specifically recognizes women chemists and was founded to support women whose scientific achievements were often overlooked. Its records list Franklin’s 1982 honor as posthumous.