Mission: To Showcase and Support Eminent Scientists Who are Women.

The Rosalind Franklin Society recognizes and celebrates the contributions of outstanding women in the life sciences and affiliated disciplines, promotes broadened opportunities for women in the sciences, and through its many activities motivates new generations of women to this calling.  The Society honors the achievements of Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958), a British x-ray crystallographer whose extraordinary work, though largely overlooked and under-appreciated at the time, was crucial to the discovery of DNA’s structure by James Watson and Francis Crick.  The powerful symbolism of her remarkable story drives the Society’s agenda.

The Society's efforts aim at enabling more women to achieve tenure-track appointments in academia as well as leadership positions in industry, academia, and government. The Society regularly communicates its activities and accomplishments to the scientific community and to talented young women as motivation to pursue science as a profession. Toward these ends, the Society organizes special events throughout the year, creates annual awards for women in life sciences, and actively educates the public, policymakers, and the media about significant contributions of women to scientific research.

The Society's 100-member Board meets annually and includes five Nobel Laureates, eminent researchers, educators, administrators, and applied scientists. Broadening its reach and visibility in the fields of science and technology, the Society has also created several support entities: a 24-member Advisory Board, a Council of Academic Institutions, and a Council of Corporate Leadership. Utilizing this potent multidisciplinary line-up, the Society works to ensure that women obtain the opportunity, advancement, recognition, and influence in science that they deserve. This will happen through greater visibility, recognition, representation and control.