- Christine Hall
- Conversation *
image source, Chris Sawyer
An unexpected star. (Photo courtesy of Chris Sawyer’s son)
at the diary yorkshire evening news In a speech given by 25-year-old physicist Florence Bell at a conference in Leeds, England, in 1939, she stated, it wasn’t her science that made the headlines, but simply the fact that she was a woman in the sciences.
What neither the writers who came up with the headline Explains A Woman’s Scientist Explains nor her readers could know is that this particular scientist, in the course of her doctoral research, quietly laid the foundation for one of the most important scientific milestones of the twentieth century: the discovery of the structure of DNA.
With chapters describing the protein fiber structure of jellyfish, shark fins, and hair, Bell’s PhD thesis may seem like a milestone in biology.
But among those, one class stands out.
Today, thymonucleic acid is known by the more common name of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA.
The Bell X-ray method will become a A vital tool in finally revealing the now known double helix shape of DNA It allows you to copy genetic information.
A thesis was submitted for the selection of a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Leeds where it was an outstanding mark.
Devil’s Advocate
Born in 1913 in London, Bell was one of a growing number of female students studying natural sciences at the University of London Girton College, University of Cambridge.
After leaving Cambridge in 1936, Bell spent a short time in Manchester with Lawrence Bragg, who together with his father William was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915.
The pair showed how X-rays can be used to reveal the arrangement of atoms and molecules in simple crystals like salt.
In 1937 Bell moved to the University of Leeds to take a position as a research assistant to physicist William Astbury, who was applying Bragg’s methods to the study of wool and other biological fibres.
Astbury X-ray studies of proteins in wool fibres It revealed that its structure was like a molecular chainor pendant, made up of joining smaller chemicals called amino acids.
This molecular necklace can be stretched or compressed.
image source, Getty Images
The original DNA model made by Francis Crick and James Dewey Watson years later (1953).
Although this may not seem important, The fact that these proteins can change their shape turns out to be crucial To understand how they work.
Astbury’s studies on wool will change our understanding of biology at the molecular level.
Encouraged by his success in wool, Astbury began expanding his network to study other biological fibres.
To do this, he needed another pair of hands expert in this new method of X-ray analysis.
That’s when Florence Bell arrived.
Because of his extreme intelligence and willingness to challenge his ideas, Astbury called Bell “the devil’s advocate”. He assigned him the task of using X-rays to study DNA.
clipped wings
image source, Science Photo Library
Astbury X-ray diffraction room.
Taking an x-ray was not easy.
It required 10 hour exposure times, darkroom work in close proximity to high voltages and extremely hot X-ray tubes.
But Bell’s skill and perseverance paid off, and in 1938, based on X-ray images she had taken, she and Asprey proposed an early model of the structure of DNA.
This model later gave James Watson and Francis Crick a vital foothold when they began their own work on DNA.
Unfortunately, just as she was flying, Bell’s DNA work stopped abruptly.
In 1941 she was called up for military service in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. According to one of his sons, Chris Sawyer, during his service he took the first steps in the development of radar (detection and radio range).
Meanwhile, Astbury begged the War Office to allow Bell to stay in his lab, but his pleas were in vain.
The University of Leeds even kept his position vacant, but Bell never returned.
The new black lady
image source, King’s College London
Bell’s work paved the way for Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling’s iconic “Image 51,” the key to revealing the structure of DNA.
After marrying a US Army officer, Bell emigrated to the United States, where she worked as an industrial chemist before giving up her career to take care of her four children.
This probably reflects a change in circumstances, when she died in 2000, Her occupation was recorded on the death certificate as “housewife”..
Sawyer recalled that later in her life, her mother liked to claim that one of her greatest accomplishments was to be the first woman in the RAF to wear the pants. But Bill was modest.
Through his X-ray studies of DNA, Bill Watson and Crick not only gave a vital foothold, but also paved the way for Rosalind Franklin, whose work in this area was a major contribution to solving the structure of genetic material.
Franklin played Nicole Kidman in the theatrical play “Photo 51”, the Mars Rover is named in her honor and a new novel about it: fortunately the “Dark Lady of DNA” is no longer what it once was.
Perhaps now Florence Peale really deserves that title.
* Christine Hall he isAuthor and Honorary Fellow in the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science at the University of Leeds. Florence Bell’s story is told in the revised version of Kirsten’s book, The Man in the Monkey’s Coat: William Astbury and How Fleece Weaved a Forgotten Path to the Double Helix, to be published in paperback by Oxford University Press. In March 2022.
This note originally appeared on The Conversation and is posted here under a Creative Commons license..
image source, Getty Images
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