Which scientist’s 1952 X-ray image of DNA became known as Photograph 51?

Rosalind Franklin produced the 1952 X-ray diffraction image of DNA known as Photograph 51.

Franklin created the image with her doctoral student Raymond Gosling while working at King’s College London. The distinctive cross-shaped pattern indicated that DNA had a helical structure and supplied important measurements about the molecule.

Photograph 51 was later shown to James Watson and Francis Crick, who used it alongside other evidence in building their DNA model. Franklin’s data contributed to the 1953 double-helix paper, although she was not included among the 1962 Nobel laureates.

The image itself did not photograph individual atoms. It recorded the diffraction of X-rays by an ordered DNA fiber, allowing scientists to infer molecular structure from the resulting pattern.