Mission: To Showcase and Support Eminent Scientists Who are Women.
The Rosalind Franklin Society is an honorific, interdisciplinary, and international society which recognizes, fosters, and advances the important contributions of women in the life sciences and affiliated disciplines. In so doing, the Society honors the under-recognized achievements of the late Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958), a British x-ray crystallographer whose work producing x-ray images of DNA was crucial in the discovery of its structure by James Watson and Francis Crick. Franklin symbolizes progress for women in science but her accomplishments were not recognized during her lifetime, awarded posthumously, nor are they completely acknowledged today. To celebrate the life, work, and symbolic power of this remarkable heroine in science, the Society recognizes the work of outstanding women scientists, fosters greater opportunities for women in the sciences, and motivates and educates by examples young generations of women who have this calling.
Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958)[1] was a British biophysicist and X-ray crystallographer who made critical contributions to the understanding of the fine molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal and graphite.[2] The DNA work achieved the most fame because DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) plays essential roles in cell metabolism and genetics, and the discovery of its structure helped scientists understand how genetic information is passed from parents to children.
Board/Officers
President: Rita R. Colwell, PhD
University of Maryland College Park and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Founder & Executive Vice President: Mary Ann Liebert
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers
Secretary: Claire M. Fraser-Liggett, PhD
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Treasurer: Ruth Merkatz, PhD, RN
Population Council
Strategic Planning Officer: Rosalind A. Grymes, PhD
NASA Ames Research Center