Kimberly Brubaker Bradley - She Persisted: Rosalind Franklin

She Persisted: MARIAN ANDERSON

She Persisted: VIRGINIA APGAR

She Persisted: NELLIE BLY

She Persisted: RUBY BRIDGES

She Persisted: CLAUDETTE COLVIN

She Persisted: ROSALIND FRANKLIN

She Persisted: TEMPLE GRANDIN

She Persisted: FLORENCE GRIFFITH JOYNER

She Persisted: HELEN KELLER

She Persisted: CORETTA SCOTT KING

She Persisted: CLARA LEMLICH

She Persisted: MAYA LIN

She Persisted: WANGARI MAATHAI

She Persisted: WILMA MANKILLER

She Persisted: PATSY MINK

She Persisted: SALLY RIDE

She Persisted: MARGARET CHASE SMITH

She Persisted: SONIA SOTOMAYOR

She Persisted: MARIA TALLCHIEF

She Persisted: DIANA TAURASI

She Persisted: HARRIET TUBMAN

She Persisted: OPRAH WINFREY

She Persisted: MALALA YOUSAFZAI

From the very start, Rosalind Franklin loved to figure things out. She loved word puzzles. She loved the memory games her father played with her and her older brother. She loved arithmetic, so much so that when she was six years old and her family went on a vacation to the seashore, she spent her free time on the beach with a paper and pencil, writing out math problems and solving them.

Rosalind was born on July 25, 1920, to a well-off family in London, England. She had an older brother; later, she would have two younger brothers and a younger sister. Rosalinds parents loved each other and their children very much, though they werent the kind of family that hugged and kissed very often. Instead they took hikes together, played games, and worked together to support ideas that were important to them.

When he was growing up, Rosalinds father had wanted to study science at either Oxford or Cambridge, Englands oldest and most well-known universities. But World War I started just before he would have enrolled. Instead of becoming a student, Ellis Franklin joined the army and fought for his country. By the time the war was over, he had a wife and a son, and he decided it was too late for him to go back to school. Instead he worked at the merchant bank his family ran. He still loved science, and he loved to help people. Several nights a week, he taught classes in electricity and magnetism at the Working Mens College in London, a school for older adults.

Rosalind and her family were Orthodox Jews. At that time most people in England were Christians. Many people were prejudiced against Jews. They treated them unfairly because they were different. Prejudice against Jewish people is called antisemitism. Among other things, antisemitism in England meant that Jewish people usually werent appointed to high positions in government or education. Rosalinds family broke some of these antisemitic barriers. One of her great-grandfathers was the first Jewish professor at an English university. Her fathers uncle was the first Jew to serve on Britains Cabinet, and Rosalinds own uncle was attorney general of the British mandate of Palestine. When Adolf Hitler rose to power in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and began terrorizing German Jews, Rosalinds family helped many of them escape to England and start new lives there. Still, even though Rosalinds family held important positions and did good things, many people disliked them just because they were Jews.

When Rosalind grew older, she decided that while she believed in God as a creator, she didnt believe in the parts of religion that didnt sound logical or concrete to her. Rosalind liked logic and concrete answers. But being Jewish was always important to her. She loved the traditions she grew up with. She also always felt that being Jewish meant she had an obligation to live a good life and contribute to creating a better world.

Rosalind and her siblings had a nanny (they called her Nannie) to help feed them and dress them and take them to the park every day. There were other people who worked for her family, who cooked meals, did laundry, and cleaned their home. Rosalinds grandparents had a large home in the countryside, with a croquet lawn and tennis courts, and Rosalind often spent time with her cousins there. The first years of Rosalinds life were surrounded by luxury, comfort, and love.