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by andrewflnr 1147 days ago
Dying young is not generally a problem for getting recognition. Certainly there are lots of famous discoverers who died young (Evariste Galois comes to mind, but is maybe too extreme an example to be representative).

I agree the impact of informal communication likely played an underrated role.
1 comments
DoreenMichele 1147 days ago
She didn't receive the Nobel Prize because it's only given to people still alive. She had already died.

Scientists et al tend to be recognized in old age or after their death, not while still relatively young. This is so true that we have special awards specifically designed to recognize people under a certain age, such as The Fields Medal for mathematicians under age 40.

There are 64 Fields Medalist. Only one is a woman.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fields_Medal#:~:text=In%2020....

Edit: I will add that the first person to win a Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two scientific fields is a woman: Marie Curie.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie

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dekhn 1147 days ago
it's unlikely franklin would have been the third recipient of the prize even if she had not passed away. From what we can infer from the extant data, she didn't have the core realization that DNA formed a double helix and that structure was precisely linked to its function as a template for genetic reproduction. ANd she didn't really have the core recognition of base-pairing that enables the double helix.
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DoreenMichele 1147 days ago
I'm not arguing that she definitely, slam dunk, would have been included had she lived. I'm arguing that she couldn't even be considered due to having died beforehand.

Scientific recognition tends to come in old age or posthumously. She's getting hers posthumously.

That's not some bizarroland weird statistical outlier that only happens to women due to sexism denying them credit during their lifetime.

Gregor Mendel is remembered as the father of genetics. His work wasn't recognized until 30 years or so after his death.

Alfred Wegener came up with the theory of plate tectonics. It didn't gain acceptance until 20 years or so after his death.

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