Ohio Assessment for Educators (OAE) Integrated Science (024) Practice Exam

Who is credited with providing key data about DNA through X-ray images?

1. Maurice Wilkins

2. James Watson

3. Rosalind Franklin

4. Albert Einstein

The correct answer is: Maurice Wilkins

The key data about DNA through X-ray images is primarily attributed to Rosalind Franklin. She utilized X-ray diffraction techniques to capture images of DNA, which played a critical role in understanding its helical structure. Her famous Photograph 51 provided significant evidence of the double helix formation of DNA, which was essential for later models developed by Watson and Crick. Maurice Wilkins, while he also conducted research on DNA and collaborated with Franklin, is not the sole credited individual for the key X-ray data; rather, he was part of a larger group that included her. Thus, while Wilkins contributed to the field, it is Franklin’s work with X-ray images that stands out as pivotal in the discovery of the DNA structure. The other options present figures not directly involved in the key X-ray imaging of DNA.