. . . she was cheated of the only thing she really wanted: the chance to complete her work

5. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox

This was an engrossing (for me, anyway) biography of a brilliant scientist whose real worth is recognized only by a select few. Many know Franklin as the difficult "Rosy", a demeaning caricature drawn by James Watson in The Double Helix, but few know of the world-renowned and respected author of approximately 37 papers (many in the coveted journal Nature) that furthered the knowledge of coal (her early career) and of virus structure (her later career). Maddox's biography seems well researched, drawing information from Franklin's close associates as well as Franklin's own letters to family and friends. While to many this book could be read as an attempt to tell the "other side" of the DNA story, for me it was also the story of a woman scientist struggling to be recognized as equal to her male counterparts and rewarded as such in terms of title and wage. By learning so much about her passions, I was saddened even more by Franklin's too-early death at 37 of ovarian cancer.

Stream of consciousness digression: 37 papers, 37 years of life. Hmmmm.

If you have any interest in science or women's struggles therein (or women's work struggles period), you should read this book.