Photograph 51 Brings Science Off Broadway
Posted by David Bruggeman on November 15, 2010
The Sloan Foundation and the Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York have collaborated on science-oriented plays over the last 13 years. The current production is Photograph 51, and it runs through Sunday.
The play focuses on the discovery of DNA in the late 1950s and the role Rosalind Franklin had in that process. If you’re asking “who’s Rosalind Franklin?” you’re not alone. Her work in X-Ray crystallography is considered critical to determining the structure of DNA. That she did not receive much credit for her contributions is a subject of debate. Evidence of this can be found in the panel discussion held in connection with the production.
The play works to explore the in-the-lab politics that play a part in day-to-day research. Besides the issues of credit, complicated by Franklin’s passing in 1958, the play covers how miscommunication in the lab contributed to difficult working relationships for Franklin. What should be no surprise to students of history, what happened was not as simple as it seems to some.
Alan Alda Brings the Radiance of Marie Curie To the Stage « Pasco Phronesis said
[...] support from the Sloan Foundation, which has assisted several artistic projects involving science, including Photograph 51, which may move to the silver screen. Perhaps Ms. Streep will have another [...]