Observations placeholder
Franklin, Dr Rosalind Elsie - Faith is essential to success in life
Identifier
029473
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
Although in conformity to her scientific colleagues, Rosalind avoided the issue of religion by stating she was agnostic, she did not abandon Jewish traditions. As the only Jewish student at Lindores School, she had Hebrew lessons on her own while her friends went to church. Furthermore she joined the Jewish Society while in her first term at Newnham College, Cambridge. Franklin confided to her sister that she was "always consciously a Jew".
There are also indications that she was left handed. Her hair parting certainly seems to support this hypothesis. The portrait is from the National Portrait Gallery
A description of the experience
Rosalind Franklin in a letter to Ellis Franklin, ca. summer 1940
"Science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. Science, for me, gives a partial explanation of life. In so far as it goes, it is based on fact, experience, and experiment. . . .
I agree that faith is essential to success in life, but I do not accept your definition of faith, i.e., belief in life after death.
In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success and that success in our aims - the improvement of the lot of mankind, present and future - is worth attaining."