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The Secrets of Photo 51

1. Who was awarded the Nobel Prize for work on the structure of DNA?
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2 Why did Wilkins think that Watson’s portrayal of Franklin was inane?
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3. What was Franklin’s main interest as a child?
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4. What did Franklin study at Cambridge?
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5. Explain how x-ray crystallography is used to reveal molecular structure.
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6. What work did Franklin do during the war?
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7. What technique did Franklin perfect in her time in Paris? How was she different from many other
researchers?
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8. What risks did she expose herself to?
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9. What was to be Franklin’s project at Kings College?
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10. What did Oswald Avery and his team do?
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11. What was known about DNA at this time?
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12. What confusion existed about the roles of Franklin and Wilkins and who was responsible for it?
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13. What road did Watson think needed to be taken to discover “the secret of life”?
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14. What was Francis Crick’s area of expertise?
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15. What did Franklin discover in her first few months at Kings? How did this discovery help her to
obtain clearer images of DNA?
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16. List the differences in the 2 forms of DNA
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17. What does the cross in the middle of the B form of DNA indicate?
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18. What approach did Watson and Crick take to solving the structure of DNA?
 Name____________________
Hour____________________

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19. How did Franklin feel about model building? What did she think a more appropriate strategy was?
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20. Describe the difference between modern crystallography and the work done in Franklin’s time.
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21. What was Pauling’s proposed structure of DNA?
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22. What inference did Watson make about Franklin’s abilities when he visited her to show her
Pauling’s paper?
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23. What deductions did Watson make from photo 51?

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24. What did Crick find out from the medical research council paper?
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25. What 2 clues helped Watson and Crick find the position of the bases?
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26. What giant leap did Watson make on the basis of Donohue’s advice?
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27. What was the second eureka moment?
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28. Why did Watson and Crick need to publish quickly and what stood in their way?
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29. How was their dilemma solved?
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30. List those who had a role in Franklin’s “unknowing and unrecognised collaboration” with Watson and
Crick and explain what the role of each one was.
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31. What was Franklin’s new position after Kings College?
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32. What is the purpose of the Rosalind Franklin Award?
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33. How does Sir Aaron Klug feel that Franklin pointed the way for other scientists?
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