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[jasonlulu_2000]

Four people in England,back in 1953,stared at photo 51. it was�t much ��a picture showing a black X.But three of these people won the nobel prize for figuring out what the photo really shows�the shape of DNA. The discovery brought fame and fortune to scientists James Watson,Francis Crick, and Maurice Willkins. The fourth, the one who actually made the picture, was left out.

Her name was Rosalind Franklin. �she should have been up there,�says historian Mary Bowden.�if her photo hadn�t been there, the others couldn�t have come up with the structure.�one reason Franklin was missing was that she had died of cancer four years before the nobel decision. But now scholars doubt that Franklin was not only robbed of her life by disease but robbed of credit by her competitors.

At cambridge university in the 1950s, Watson and Crick fried to make models by cutting up shapes of DNA�s parts and then putting them together. In the meantime, at king�s college in Lodon Frannklin and Willkins shone X-rays at the molecule。The rays produced patterns reflecting the shape.

But Willkins and Frangklin�s relationship was a lot rockier than the celebrated teamwork of Waston and Crick. Willkins thought Frangklin was hired to be his assistant. But the college actually employed her to take over the DNA project.

What she did was produce X-ray pictures that told Watson and Crick that one of their early models was inside out. And she was not shy about saying so. That angered Waston, who attacked her in return. "Mere inspection suggested that she would not easily bend. Clearly she had to go or be put in her place."
As Frankins competitors, Wilkins, Watston and Crick had much to gain by cutting her out of the little group of researchers,says historian pnina Abir-Am. In 1962 at the nobel prize awarding ceremony, Wilkins thanked 13 colleagues by name before he mentioned Frangkin. Watson wrote his book laughing at her. Crick wrote in 1974 that �Franklins was only two steps away from the solution.�

No, Franklin was the solution. "She contributed more than any other players to solving the structure of DNA.She must be considered a co-discoverer,�Abir-Am says.This was backed up by Aaron Klug, who worked with Franklin and later won a Nobel Prize himself. Once described as the �Dark Lady of DNA�,Franklin is finally coming into the light.


What does the underlined sentence mean?


Thanks

Jason

[educe22]

It means that, considering her "in-your-face" personality, the other involved parties decided that in order to protect their research and point-of-view, they had to take action. That action was either that she leave or be isolated/ostracized by her peers.
_________________
Educe22

[jasonlulu_2000]

Thanks for your wonderful explanation.

Can you also tell me what "mere inspection" means?

I cannot find the phrase in a dictionary.

Thanks again

[redset]

It means that it was clear from inspecting her (either meaning 'by just looking at her', or that it quickly became obvious after dealing with her) that she couldn't be pushed around or manipulated. Merely means only in the sense of nothing more - it usually implies that it's less than you'd expect, or that only a small effort is necessary.

So either Watson only needed to 'inspect' her to realise she 'wouldn't easily bend' (he didn't have to spend any more time working her out), or the 'inspection' is the only thing he did (and he could have done a lot more / didn't do enough). It's not clear exactly which meaning we're meant to take (and 'inspection' is a strange word to use to be honest, it's an old quote though and language changes) - but since it's a quote from a proud and self-important man about something he did, I think we can safely assume he means 'I only had to look at her to fully understand the situation, I didn't need to do anything else.'