Customer Reviews

NOVA: DNA - Secret of Photo 51

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A good contribution to Franklin's role in this important discovery, a discovery that unleashed molecular genetics. It's too bad that Watson did not respond to Nova's request for an interview (as claimed in the piece). Watson's "The Structure of DNA" was never presented as a history -- it was a personal memoir, filled with impolitic observations that stunned Crick and others involved in the "race." In some ways, Watson has done a service to Franklin, portraying her in such an unflattering and ungenerous way that legions have been motivated to provide a corrective view. Some good objective histories, such as Olby's, provide a bit more balanced assessment. I did not see reference to Sayre's biography of Franklin, which is a good read.

This video is very informative, and I would recommend it to those who are interested in the history of one of the landmark discoveries of the last three generations. I did not know anything about x-ray crystallography, and this inspired me to read up on it. In view of James Watson's recent comments, maybe Rosalind Franklin does need some post-mortem defenders...but this video comes off in the vein of "those mean men! They were too stupid to develop their own theory, so they had to climb over a woman to come up with anything meaningful!". Power to Rosalind...may she receive the credit she deserves, but don't make her a victim!

"DNA: Secret of Photo 51" covers a lot of ground, but left me hungry for more of the technical details, especially those connecting DNA geometry with the X-ray images. But that's a quibble - - it shows that scientific discovery history isn't always black and white.

I'm a biology professor, and I love showing this DVD to my classes, to let them know that all the glory does NOT go to Watson and Crick for 'discovering' DNA, and that they actually stole a vital piece of data from a fellow scientist! It's also great for showing the importance of womens' contributions to the field of science, and how these early female scientists helped pave the way for women in science today.

As my moniker suggests I am a scientist and specifically work with DNA and pharmacology. This is a story that puts me in a tailspin - Rosalind Franklin discovered the structure of life. Three scientists, unbeknownst to her, used her data and discoveries, published their work, gave her no credit - and then used this (her) work to go on and win the Nobel prize! If there ever is a time when the world needs to ask the Nobel committee to rescind the prize it is now. Bottom line, Photo 51 was the basis of everything - all the modeling, the antiparallel strands, the base pairing predictions, the 10 base pairs per turn. Without Roaslind's work there was no data/ modeling/ predictions of structure and no Nobel prize for Watson, Crick & Maurice

Shame on you Watson & Crick!

If you find this documentary interesting read 'Rosalind Franklin and DNA'.

Rosalind Franklin was not only a remarkable woman but an outstanding scientist as well. It was this photo that sealed the deal as far as the discovery of DNA. Too bad that Rosalind Franklin didn't get the recognition she deserved. I would recommend any student of science to watch this movie.

Dr. Rosalind Franklin, a determined researcher specializing in the x-ray analysis of chrystaline structures. Her work on DNA took place in the early 1950s when there were few women scientists. Franklin found herself in an uncomfortable work environment with other scientists in the "old boy network." James Watson and Francis Crick, gaining access to a key piece of her research (Photo 51), managed to solve the puzzle of the shape and nature of DNA's structure.

This DVD discusses the poor treatement of Franklin in Watson's later memoir and the fact that she was not mentioned when Watson, Crick and Maurice Wilkins (Franklin's coworker) accepted the Nobel prize for their work on DNA. This documentary tries to do justice to a great scientist who never realized how much she had contributed to the quest to learn the secrets of life itself.

This is a very good presentation and a good revision of the presentation of Rosalind Franklin's importance and character; it is particularly important given the way she is presented in James Watson's Double Helix.

That said, I don't know if we need to portray Watson as a "villain", which almost seems to be the objective of this video at times. Watson and Crick had access to Ms. Franklin's data without her knowing but that is not the same as saying Watson and Crick were plagarists (which almost seems to be the take-home message some Amazon reviewers have been left with).

Had Ms. Franklin published Photo 51 in a journal, perhaps some other chemist (such as Mr. Pauling in the states) might have figured out the chemical structure first. In that sense, all the "naughty" behaviour might be partly seen as an attempt to be sure that a british lab got the credit not an american one. It is certainly very unjust that Ms. Franklin did not get proper credit or that she was portrayed as she was by Watson in his book the Double Helix.

It is not the first or last time that everyone who made a key contribution to a discovery did not receive proper credit. It is also fair to suggest that Watson's book is shown to be in even worse taste than one might have thought. The desire to portray Mr. Watson as a villain seems out of place and may stem from the same desire for a simplistic narrative which may have motivated Mr Watson to write the story as he did in the first place.

This is a very revealing story into the discovery of DNA's structure, and the immensely important role that Rosalind Franklin had. I wouldn't say the movie necessarily victimized her as much as Watson villainized her in his book, "The Double Helix."
I'd highly recommend this for anyone interested in biology.
Or in justice.

Male scientists steal a female scientist's DNA work. They call her diminutives behind her back. They portray her as a shrew in their biographical book. They act as if she were a trivial part of their publications. Still, they win Nobel Prizes and she dies before the age of 40. In the same way that my pro-feminist sensibilities made it difficult to watch the film "North Country," it was very painful to watch the oppression described in this documentary.

This is very important for all female scientists to see. Like the Curies, R. Franklin's research may have played a role in her death. Though non-religious, R. Franklin was a Jewish woman and there is a Hebrew phrase written on her gravesite. Perhaps, she can be deemed an important figure in Jewish women's history texts and lists. I really hope that feminists, in Britain and across the globe, can organize to get Dr. Franklin a posthumous Nobel.

The work has female and male interviewees. The work conspicuously states that Sigourney Weaver narrates. Though her voice is recognizable, I didn't feel that Lt. Ellen Ripley was speaking to me as the actress told the facts.

Scientists often imply that they are beyond oppression and interpersonal matters. However, the history of science is marked with much sexism, racism, and other prejudices. This is one glaring example of that, but the word sexism is never used, surprisingly.