In this first installment of Scientist Pin-Ups, I have decided to feature an important (and lovely) figure in the history of science: Dr Rosalind Franklin. I have selected three imminently pin-uppable pictures of Franklin, but before you feast your eyes, please take a moment to read this short excerpt from the National Library of Medicine's excellent Rosalind Franklin Papers:
Rosalind Elsie Franklin (1920-1958) was a British chemist and crystallographer who is best known for her role in the discovery of the structure of DNA. It was her x-ray diffraction photos of DNA and her analysis of that data--provided to Francis Crick and James Watson without her knowledge--that gave them clues crucial to building their correct theoretical model of the molecule in 1953. While best known for this work, Franklin also did important research into the micro-structure and properties of coals and other carbons, and spent the last five years of her career elucidating the structure of plant viruses, notably tobacco mosaic virus.There is also the brilliant BBC Four documentary, The Dark Lady of DNA (called Secret of Photo 51 in the US) both with associated online content. Now on to the pictures:
Rosalind Franklin, "seen here serving coffee in evaporating dishes at her Parisian laboratory in the late 1940s" (image from NOVA's Secret of Photo 51)
Rosalind Franklin on holiday in Tuscany in Spring, 1950. Image from the National Library of Medicine's Rosalind Franklin Papers
Rosalind Franklin mountain climbing in Norway, ca. 1940s.Image from the National Library of Medicine's Rosalind Franklin Papers
In my next post I will highlight one more historical (lovely) figure in science before moving on to caricatures of sciency sexiness (as I said in the grand challenge, the Scientist Pin-Up is ultimately what we're after here, the idealized sexiness of scientists). But I couldn't move on to that until I set the baseline with some big-name scientists with beautiful visages to match their profound intellects.
If you know of a good Scientist Pin-Up that you'd like to see featured in future posts, please post a link to the image(s) in comments.
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4 comments:
I hear Marie Curie was absolutely "Radiant"(http://www.instantrimshot.com/)
I tried, but found Barbara McClintock in Groucho glasses instead.
Lisa Randall's generally considered rather a hottie, as well as being the most-cited theoretical physicist of the last five years or something.
What Naomi Oreskes and Sylvia Earle (super hottie in the younger years, not bad even as an older lady ;p)
Saw this today:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/4187
She later became a chemist, and is Director of National Center for Improving Science Education.
Profiled here:
http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/u/171
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