Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T14:21:03.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Reassessing Discovery: Rosalind Franklin, Scientific Visualization, and the Structure of DNA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Abstract

Philosophers have traditionally conceived of discovery in terms of internal cognitive acts. Close consideration of Rosalind Franklin's role in the discovery of the DNA double helix, however, reveals some problems with this traditional conception. This article argues that defining discovery in terms of mental operations entails problematic conclusions and excludes acts that should fall within the domain of discovery. It proposes that discovery be expanded to include external acts of making visible. Doing so allows for a reevaluation of Franklin's role in the discovery of the structure of DNA.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I would like to thank John Lyne and Kenneth Schaffner for their very helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.

References

Bechtel, William. 2006. Discovering Cell Mechanisms: The Creation of Modern Cell Biology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bechtel, William, and Abrahamsen, Adele. 2005. “Explanation: A Mechanist Alternative.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Science 36:421–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernal, J. D. 1958. “Dr. Rosalind E. Franklin.” Nature 182:154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blackwell, Richard. 1980. “In Defense of the Context of Discovery.” Revue Internationale de Philosophie 34:90108.Google Scholar
Curd, Martin. 1980. “The Logic of Discovery: An Analysis of Three Approaches.” In Scientific Discovery, Logic, and Rationality, ed. Nickles, Thomas, 201–19. Dordrecht: Reidel.Google Scholar
Delehanty, Megan. 2007. “Perceiving Causation via Videomicroscopy.” Philosophy of Science 74:9961006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewald, P. P., ed. 1962. Fifty Years of X-Ray Diffraction. Utrecht: N. V. A. Oosthoek's Uitgeversmaatschappij.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, William. 2009. “Visual Representations in Science.” Philosophy of Science 76:372–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gruber, Howard E. 1980. “The Evolving Systems Approach to Creative Scientific Work: Charles Darwin's Early Thought.” In Scientific Discovery: Case Studies, ed. Nickles, Thomas, 113–30. Dordrecht: Reidel.Google Scholar
Hanson, Norwood Russell. 1958. Patterns of Discovery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hoyningen-Huene, Paul. 1987. “Context of Discovery and Context of Justification.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 18:501–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Judson, Horace Freeland. 1996. The Eighth Day of Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Biology. New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.Google Scholar
Julian, Maureen M. 1990. “Women in Crystallography.” In Women of Science: Righting the Record, ed. Kass-Simon, Gabriele and Farnes, Patricia, 335–83. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Kendrew, John C. 1966. The Thread of Life: An Introduction to Molecular Biology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Klug, Aaron. 1968. “Rosalind Franklin and the Discovery of the Structure of DNA.” Nature 219:808–44.Google Scholar
Klug, Aaron. 1974. “Rosalind Franklin and the Double Helix.” Nature 248:787–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klug, Aaron. 2003. “Discovery of the Double Helix.” DNA 50:49.Google Scholar
Lamb, David, and Easton, Susan M.. 1984. Multiple Discovery: The Pattern of Scientific Progress. Avebury: Avebury.Google Scholar
Laudan, Larry. 1980. “Why Was the Logic of Discovery Abandoned?” In Scientific Discovery, Logic, and Rationality, ed. Nickles, Thomas, 173–83. Dordrecht: Reidel.Google Scholar
Lima-De-Faria, J., ed. 1990. Historical Atlas of Crystallography. Boston: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar
Maddox, Brenda. 2002. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Maddox, Brenda. 2003. “The Double Helix and the ‘Wronged Heroine.’Nature 421:407–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morange, Michel. 1998. A History of Molecular Biology. Trans. Cobb, Matthew. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Nersessian, Nancy J. 2008. Creating Scientific Concepts. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nickles, Thomas. 1980a. “Introduction: Rationality and Social Context.” In Scientific Discovery: Case Studies, ed. Nickles, Thomas, xiii–xxv. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nickles, Thomas. 1980b. “Introductory Essay: Scientific Discovery and the Future of Philosophy of Science.” In Scientific Discovery, Logic, and Rationality, ed. Nickles, Thomas, 159. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nickles, Thomas. 1985. “Beyond Divorce: Current Status of the Discovery Debate.” Philosophy of Science 52:177206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olby, Robert. 1974. The Path to the Double Helix. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Peckhaus, Volker. 2010. “Psychologism and the Distinction between Discovery and Justification.” In Revisiting Discovery and Justification: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives on the Context Distinction, ed. Schickore, Jutta and Steinle, Friedrich, 99116. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Perini, Laura. 2005. “The Truth in Pictures.” Philosophy of Science 72:262–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popper, Karl. 1959. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. New York: Basic.Google Scholar
Rapoport, Sarah. 2002. “Rosalind Franklin: Unsung Hero of the DNA Revolution.” History Teacher 36:116–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reichenbach, Hans. 1938. Experience and Prediction: An Analysis of the Foundations and the Structure of Knowledge. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Rescorla, Michael. 2009. “Predication and Cartographic Representation.” Synthese 169:175200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenberger, Robert. 2011. “A Case Study in the Applied Philosophy of Imaging: The Synaptic Vesicle Debate.” Science, Technology and Human Values 36:632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sayre, Anne. 1975. Rosalind Franklin and DNA. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Schaffer, Simon. 1986. “Scientific Discoveries and the End of Natural Philosophy.” Social Studies of Science 16:387420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaffner, Kenneth F. 1974. “Logic of Discovery and Justification in Regulatory Genetics.” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 4:349–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schaffner, Kenneth F.. 1980. “Discovery in the Biomedical Sciences: Logic or Irrational Intuition?” In Scientific Discovery: Case Studies, ed. Nickles, Thomas, 171205. Dordrecht: Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stent, Gunther S. 1972. “Prematurity and Uniqueness in Scientific Discovery.” Scientific American 227:8493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, James D. 1968/1996. The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA. New York: Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Watson, James D., and Crick, Francis H. C.. 1953. “A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid.” Nature 171:737–38.Google ScholarPubMed