(Rosalind) Franklin
Rosalind Franklin (1920 – 1958)
discovered the structure of the DNA and the Tobacco Mosaic Virus with X-ray crystallography.
She is a biologist who took part in several explorations. Usually, she used to get a Nobel Prize but she died before.
Her life began on the 27th July 1920 in London, England. From this day on she was a really interested young girl who wanted to explore the world and wanted to be a scientist, and finally you can say that her dream came true. After finishing her school she went to the Newnham College in Cambridge in1938 and studied chemistry. She worked as an assistant research officer at a British Research Association. Interesting is that she learned the outside structure of coal, it is the basis for her discover. After 9 years she went to Paris, France. There, she got to know the crystallographer Jacques Mering, who had a really big influence on her because he was the one who taught her X-ray diffraction. In January 1951, Franklin returned to London where she made the “discovery of her life”. She made pictures of the DNA and found out that the DNA has “A” and “B” parts. On the other hand she recognized that the “sugar-phosphate backbone” is on the outside of the DNA. A great success was that her pictures were published in April 1953 in the magazine “Nature”. Now, it is really important for the structure and knowledge of the DNA. Her desire to explore the world of biology grew every day and so she decided to explore the structure of an virus, the Tobbaco Mosaic Virus. Her success during this exploration is supported by the fact that the magazine “Nature” published again more papers of her.
In 1956 her life changed immediately. She was taken ill with cancer but she didn’t stop working. That shows her deep-hearted desire to explore the world and understand the
world. On the 16th April 1958 she died at the age of 37.
It is easy to write about the DNA. So what exactly is the DNA?
DNA is a abbreviation and stands for “Deoxyribonucleic acid”. The DNA is a machine to control the working of the cells.
The language of the DNA consists of four letters. A = Adenin, T = Thymin, G= Guanin,
C = Cytosin. These four letters are pairs, so A and T and G and C together. It is important that they are always together. These four letters are the alphabet of our cells. And with this alphabet words can be formed ( condons ) and sentences ( genes ), always three letters. That tells your cells what to do. The structure of the DNA is the “double helix”.
Famous Biologists
- (Werner) Arber
- (François) Jacob
- (Rosalind) Franklin
- (Robert) Koch
- Aristotle
- (Alexander) Fleming
- (Charles) Darwin
- (Gregor) Mendel
- (Louis) Pasteur
- (Theodor) Schwann and (Matthias) Schleiden
Werner Arber (*1929)
is a famous microbiologist and geneticist. In 1978, he won the Nobel price in medicines and physiology.
He did many researches on the bacterial restrictions’ systems and movable genetic elements, the modification and restriction of the ribonucleic acid.
Francois Jacob ( 1920 - 2013 ) On 17 of June 1920, in Nancy, the city in the east of French, was born
François Jacob, the only child of Simon and Thérèse Jacob.
His father was a merchant, but an equally important role in the development of young Francois, played his grandfather - Albert Franck, a four-star general.
Rosalind Franklin (1920 – 1958)
discovered the structure of the DNA and the Tobacco Mosaic Virus with X-ray crystallography.
She is a biologist who took part in several explorations. Usually, she used to get a Nobel Prize but she died before.
Robert Koch ( 1843 – 1910 )
is a very important character for our health today. He is the one who studied the bacteria that caused tuberculosis, anthax and cholrea, each of them an illness in the 18th century. Because of this extraordinary studies he won the nobel prize twice in 1905, in physiology and medicine and started to help people all over the world with his knowledge.
Aristotle (384-322v.C.)
belongs to one of the most famous and influential philosopher in history. A lot of disciplines and (technical) terms has been significant embossed or even founded by Aristotle. Some examples for disciplines are biology, ethics, logic and physics. Terms that he has a great influence on are for example substance, potency, theory and practice. Out of his ideas, the "Aristotelism" was built up.
Alexander Fleming ( 1881 - 1955 )
Sir Alexander Fleming was born on August 6, 1881 in Ayrshire, Scotland. The scottish biologist and inventor is widely regarded for his discovery of penicillin, a drug that is used to kill harmful bacteria.He studied medicine from 1901 at the St. Mary's Hospital Medical
School in Paddington.
Charles Darwin (1809-1822)
gives distinction to the theory of evolution. His idea was that the change of varieties and the origin gets realized by natural selection: only the fittest will survive because of struggling for life. His work influences biology and geology not only in the past. Even today the term "Darwinism" is used to explain how evolution works.
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
discovered in 1865 that there exists a certain numerical ratio which is called: Mendel's Laws of Heredity. This laws become the basic of genetics in science since today. With the help of Mendel's laws nearly everybody is able to anticipate the genetic recombination of allele pairs in sexual reproduction. The three laws are Laws of Inheritance, the law of the uniformity of hybrids, the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
he was a french chemist and microbiologist. He is classified as a founder of the modern bacteriology. He has examined the germ of hydrophobia and anthrax. After this discovery, he invented active immunisations against hydrophobia, anthrax, red murrain and chicken cholera. The term "pasteurization" is caused by Louis Pasteur. This means the method of carefully heating liquids up to 60 or 80 degrees with the effect that they become longer lasting.
Theodor Schwann (1810-1822) and Matthias Schleiden (1804-1881)
both of them have made their own discoveries and achievements but together they have made one very important discovery (1839): "The Theory of Cells". This theory badges the cell as a basically particle of plants and animals. Schwann and Schleiden were able to recognize that some organism are unicellular, while others are multicellular. Additionally, they found out that the cell nucleus and the membrane belong to the properties of the cell, occupied by comparisons of different plant and animal tissues.
