DNA SCIENTISTS:
OBJECTIVE 4(e): PROCESS INFORMATION FROM SECONDARY SOURCES TO DESCRIBE AND ANALYSE THE
RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE WORK OF: ●JAMES WATSON ● FRANCIS CRICK ● ROSALIND FRANKLIN ●
MAURICE WILKINS IN DETERMINING THE STRUCTURE OF DNA AND THE IMPACT OF THE QUALITY OF
COLLABORATION AND COMMUNICATION ON THEIR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
PROCESS INFORMATION: ASSESS THE ACCURACY OF SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION PRESENTED IN MASS MEDIA BY COMPARISON WITH
SIMILAR INFORMATION PRESENTED IN SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS
DESCRIBE: PROVIDE CHARACTERISTICS AND FEATURES
ANALYSE: IDENTIFY COMPONENTS AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THEM; DRAW OUT AND RELATE IMPLICATIONS
“The discovery of the structure of DNA in March 1953 was one of the most significant scientific achievements of
the twentieth century. The story of its discovery is an excellent example of how scientists collaborate (work as a
team) and how internal conflicts and personality clashes influence effective communication in scientific research.”
“Scientific discoveries are rarely the work of one person but tend to result from teams of people bringing together
different skills. These teams may be working together or may be scattered all over the world working
independently in different laboratories. Determining the structure of DNA is a good case study exemplifying the
role of collaboration and effective communication in scientific research.
The four people in this story worked at two different places. Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins were from
King's College London and James Watson and Francis Crick were from Cambridge University. Rosalind Franklin
was a woman working in a field that was male dominated. You will see as the story progresses that she didn't get
equal recognition for her contributions. Her work on X-ray diffraction showed that DNA had the characteristics of a
helix. She wished to gather more evidence of this result but Maurice Wilkins showed her results to Watson and
Crick without her permission or knowledge.
This information was enough to encourage Watson and Crick to develop their model of the double helix for the
structure of DNA.
Rosalind Franklin died of cancer in 1958 at the age of 37. Watson, Crick and Wilkins received the Nobel Prize for
their work in 1962.”
TASK: To satisfy all parts of Objective 4(e)
Use a variety of types of secondary sources to
(a) process information on the four scientists
(b) describe and analyse the relative importance of their work in determining the structure of DNA
(c) describe and analyse the impact of the quality of collaboration and communication on their scientific
research
The task can be presented as a newspaper article of the time, a story, a
table or a scientific account. It is to be typed and presented for grading
on Friday 30 April 2010.
Include a bibliography and a picture of each scientist as well as any
other relevant diagrams. ( no more than 1000 words )
Some suggested websites are listed below as one source of secondary
data.
DNA double helix Watson, Crick, Wilkins, Franklin
James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, and Rosalind Franklin
The Discovery of DNA
There are plenty of other sources including your textbook pp 190-195 as reference.