Anger over female scientist’s ‘second billing’ street name
SHE was a groundbreaking scientist of the 1950s who played a pivotal role in uncovering the structure of DNA, but a row has broken out at Surrey University over whether the chemist Rosalind Franklin should have had a road named after her rather than a close.
The Rosalind Franklin Society has accused the local council of sexism by giving women “second billing”, while residents branded it “unfair” that she was denied the same street status as her male counterparts. The row led to Guildford borough council discussing whether to change Rosalind Franklin Close to Rosalind Franklin Road.
Alan Turing Road, Alexander Fleming Road, Ronald Ross Road and Ernst Chain Road are among the streets surrounding Surrey Research Park, which are named after some of the greatest minds in medicine and science.
But only two streets are named after female scientists – Rosalind Franklin Close and Daphne Jackson Road.
Professor Jackson was a nuclear physicist who taught at the university and became Britain’s first female physics professor in 1971. Karla Rubinger, director of the Rosalind Franklin Society, said: “This is yet another level in which women get only second billing. We must all be working to change this.”
Dr Franklin died of ovarian cancer aged 37 in 1958, six years after taking what is said to be the most important picture ever captured, photo 51, which showed that DNA has a spiralling or “double-helical” structure. Her fellow researchers Maurice Wilkins, James Watson and Francis Crick were awarded a Nobel Prize for their work in 1962, but she never received official recognition for role in the scientific breakthrough.
The council told The Daily Telegraph: “We did receive an objection from a resident. Given the problems caused for residents when addresses are changed, we decided not to continue on to a formal consultation on the suggestion to change the name.”
A spokesman for the university said: “We’re pleased this discussion is again highlighting Rosalind’s achievements, which are the reason we put her name forward when the council originally named the roads.”