The Night of Science is a yearly student-organized event offering over 90 lectures, guided tours, booths and more.
On June 13th, from 5pm until 5am at Campus Riedberg you can get fascinating information about all aspects of natural and life sciences – and participate in lots of things!
The NoS is free to attend for anyone and everyone, food and merch can be bought though.
– A list of lectures held in English will be published here –
Our 2025 figurehead: Rosalind Franklin
CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Elliott & Fry, National Portrait Gallery, London
CC BY-SA 4.0
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Rosalind Franklin was a British biochemist who specialised in the X-ray structure analysis of crystallised macromolecules. Her research made decisive contributions to deciphering the molecular structures of DNA, RNA, viruses and graphite.
Born on 25 July 1920 in London, she began studying chemistry at Newnham College, Cambridge in 1938.
After completing her doctorate, Franklin worked in Paris, where she specialised in crystal structure analysis. In 1951, she returned to London and began research at King’s College. It was there that she made her most important discovery:
through her X-ray diffraction images of DNA, in particular the famous ‘Photo 51’, she was able to reveal the double helix structure of DNA. This work was decisive for the later modelling of James Watson and Francis Crick, who were
awarded the Nobel Prize in 1962 for their decoding of the DNA structure. Unfortunately, Franklin’s contribution went unnoticed for a long time. Tragically, she died on 16 April 1958 at the age of just 37 from cancer, which was probably
caused by the X-rays used in her research. Rosalind Franklin’s work and her outstanding scientific achievements are highly recognised and honoured today.