Photo: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Source
British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to understanding the molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses, coal, and graphite. Her famous Photo 51, an X-ray diffraction image of DNA, provided critical evidence for the double helix structure. Watson and Crick used her data — largely without her knowledge — in their landmark 1953 paper. She died of ovarian cancer at 37, likely caused by radiation exposure, and was not included in the 1962 Nobel Prize awarded to Watson, Crick, and Wilkins. Her contributions were only fully recognized decades later.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica