The Rosalind Franklin Signet Ring commemorates the contribution of chemist Rosalind Franklin to the elucidation of the structure of DNA. Franklin specialized in X-Ray crystallography and was working on solving the crystal structure of A-form and B-form DNA when her graduate student produced Photo 51, the X-ray diffraction pattern of B-DNA. This image confirmed the theoretical work of James Watson and Francis Crick on the molecular structure of DNA. Although Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962 for discovering the structure of DNA, the historical record (
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure) rightly attributes this discovery to a team of four scientists, Watson, Crick, Franklin and her colleague Maurice Wilkins.
The Rosalind Franklin signet ring is inspired by Photo 51, and by all women's contributions to science.