Sounds good to us! ✈️

The Institute will unveil a new exhibition in fall 2027, coinciding with the anniversary of Photo 51, and offering the general public a chance to view highlights from the collection. To read the full press release and to explore the newly digitized collection, visit sciencehistory.org/hmbc.

"We’re also actively digitizing the materials from the collection to provide free global access through our website,” said Michelle DiMeo, vice president of collections and programs and the Arnold Thackray Director of the Othmer Library.

A glass jar called a “desiccator” that removes moisture and humidity, and other historic artifacts used in Franklin and Gosling’s DNA experiments are also part of the collection.

In this collection: Franklin’s own copy of Photo 51, the groundbreaking image used to reveal DNA’s structure. Taken in 1952 by Franklin and her PhD student, Raymond Gosling, Photo 51 displayed the X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA and provided the clearest evidence that DNA is in fact a double helix.

The History of Molecular Biology Collection includes the papers of Nobel laureates Aaron Klug and Max Perutz, plus unique materials from other Nobelists and celebrated scientists, including Rosalind Franklin, Francis Crick, James Watson, Maurice Wilkins, and Linus Pauling.