Rosalind Franklin — "The term 'helical' is used to describe a structure in which the chains are coile…"
The term 'helical' is used to describe a structure in which the chains are coiled round a common axis.
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More from Rosalind Franklin
"The results suggest a helical structure (which must be very closely packed) containing 2, 3, or 4 co‐axial nucleic acid chains per helical unit."
"I have no patience for intellectual dishonesty."
"I do not like the idea of a woman going into science as a career."
"It's a pity that scientific recognition often comes with so much struggle and politics."
"My own work is concerned with the structure of nucleic acids. I am trying to determine the structure of DNA."
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Understanding this quote
What it means
This is a precise scientific definition explaining what scientists mean when they call a structure helical: multiple chains or strands wind around a shared central axis, like threads twisting around an invisible pole. Rather than poetic language, it strips the concept down to its geometric essence so other researchers can apply the term consistently. It establishes a shared vocabulary needed before anyone can argue about whether a molecule actually fits that description.
Relevance to Rosalind Franklin
Franklin produced Photograph 51, the X-ray diffraction image whose telltale X-pattern revealed DNA's helical geometry, and her measurements pinned down the molecule's dimensions and phosphate-outside backbone. Known for demanding rigor over speculation, she resisted guessing at structures without data. This careful, definitional voice mirrors her notebooks and 1953 Nature paper, where she insisted terms be earned through evidence rather than assumed, a discipline that ultimately made Watson and Crick's model possible.
The era
In the early 1950s, molecular biology was racing to solve the gene's physical form. Pauling had just cracked the alpha-helix in proteins, making helices the hot structural hypothesis. At King's College London, Franklin worked in a male-dominated lab under tense conditions with Maurice Wilkins, while Cambridge competitors Watson and Crick built models. Precise crystallographic language mattered because the field was shifting from chemistry into biology, and shared definitions were essential for the discoveries reshaping postwar science.
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