The English Chemist

Journalist Mills debuts with an insightful look at the personal and professional struggles of Dr. Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958), whose contributions to the study of DNA went uncelebrated during her lifetime. In 1951, Rosalind works as a researcher at King’s College, London, studying the makeup of DNA. Using X-ray technology, she discovers and takes photographs of DNA’s double helix structure, but Dr. Maurice Wilkins, a fellow researcher, takes the credit. Refusing to be discouraged, Rosalind takes another research position in a lab at the University of London, where she’s denied a pay raise because she is not a man with a family to support. Yet Rosalind refuses to succumb to the pressure to marry and give up her work. Her resilience is again tested by severe abdominal pain and a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, which results in a hysterectomy. Mills dramatizes Rosalind’s scientific prowess in intricate details and delivers insightful character work, exploring how Rosalind’s dedication to her research led to her solitary life. It’s a worthy companion to Marie Benedict’s Her Hidden Genius. (Sept.)