SCI Member puts Franklin
in the frame
Michael Abraham’s painting
to mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery of DNA is donated
to SCI
 James
Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the
Nobel Prize for their roles in the discovery. But many still
feel it an outrage that the contributions of another scientist
– crystallographer Rosalind Franklin – were not
recognised.
It was
Franklin’s X-ray photographs of DNA – which
have been described as ‘among the most beautiful
X-ray photographs of any substance ever taken’ –
that helped Watson and Crick to unravel DNA’s complex,
elusive structure.
Particularly, one extraordinarily clear image confirmed Watson
and Crick’s suspicions that DNA took the form of a double
helix. The discovery greatly accelerated scientific advancement,
including the Human Genome Project, in which Watson has been
heavily involved.
To mark the anniversary of the discovery of the DNA double
helix, SCI Member Michael Abraham (picured), a professor of
medicinal/physical chemistry at University College London,
was asked to paint a memorial picture. His painting was part
of the Foreign Office DNA50/Brain research exhibition at the
British Embassy, the Hague in 2003–4.
In Prof Abraham’s painting he has made a long-lasting
tribute not only to the discovery, but to those involved,
particularly Franklin, who died of cancer in 1957, aged just
37.
The main feature of the oil painting is a golden symbol of
the helical structure of DNA. On the two strands are the names
of the key workers involved in the discovery of the structure.
Watson and Crick are on one strand, and Franklin and Wilkins
are on the other. The helical structure extends from the lowest
to the highest form of life, from a primeval soup to humans,
the arm signifying not only humans in general, but the work
needed to 'pull out' and identify DNA and its structure.
At the centre of the painting is a representation of the
famous X-ray photograph of Franklin, and around the painting
are the base pairs fitted together as worked out by Watson
and Crick.
Professor Abraham studied painting with the portrait painter
Francis Gower for several years, and later with the figurative
painter David Carr and then the abstract painter Nigel Caple.
He has had several solo exhibitions in London and elsewhere
in the UK, as well as exhibiting in numerous mixed shows.
He has permanent installations at the Frythe Laboratory (now
GSK), the University of Liverpool, and the Royal Free Hospital,
Hampstead.
SCI was delighted when Professor Abraham kindly offered to
donate the picture to the Society, and the AGM was the perfect
opportunity for Michael to formally hand over the painting;
with guests treated to a personal account of the painting’s
origins and history. The painting can be viewed in hallway
14 of SCI’s Belgrave Square headquarters in London.
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