What did Raymond Gosling Rosalind Franklin do at King's College London?

King's College LondonBlue Plaque

The Story

# King's College London, Strand At this very spot on the Strand, Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling conducted the groundbreaking X-ray diffraction studies that would ultimately reveal the structure of DNA, working in the Biophysics Laboratory during the early 1950s. Franklin's meticulous experimental technique and Gosling's collaboration produced the now-famous "Photo 51"—the crystallographic image that provided crucial evidence for DNA's helical structure—while colleagues Maurice Wilkins, Herbert Wilson, and Alexander Stokes pursued complementary research within these same walls. Between 1951 and 1953, this laboratory became the crucible where one of science's most profound mysteries was illuminated, though Franklin's vital contributions would not receive full recognition until long after her death in 1958. Standing here on the Strand, you're at the threshold of the building where cutting-edge science fundamentally transformed our understanding of life itself, making King's College a pilgrimage site for anyone seeking to understand how modern biology was born.

Location

King's College London, Strand, WC2R 2LS

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