Franklin

[frangk-lin] /ˈfræŋk lɪn/

noun, English History.
1.
(in the 14th and 15th centuries) a freeholder who was not of noble birth.
[frangk-lin] /ˈfræŋk lɪn/
noun
1.
Aretha [uh-ree-thuh] /əˈri θə/ (Show IPA), born 1942, U.S. singer.
2.
Benjamin, 1706–90, American statesman, diplomat, author, scientist, and inventor.
3.
Sir John, 1786–1847, English Arctic explorer.
4.
John Hope, 1915–2009, U.S. historian and educator.
5.
a district in extreme N Canada, in the Northwest Territories, including the Boothia and Melville peninsulas, Baffin Island, and other Arctic islands. 549,253 sq. mi. (1,422,565 sq. km).
6.
a town in S Massachusetts.
7.
a city in SE Wisconsin.
8.
a town in central Tennessee.
9.
a town in central Indiana.
10.
a town in SW Ohio.
11.
a male given name: from a Germanic word meaning “freeholder.”.
/ˈfræŋklɪn/
noun
1.
(in 14th- and 15th-century England) a substantial landholder of free but not noble birth
/ˈfræŋklɪn/
noun
1.
Aretha (əˈriːθə) born 1942, US soul, pop, and gospel singer; noted for her songs “Respect” (1967), “I Say a Little Prayer” (1968), and, with George Michael, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” (1987)
2.
Benjamin 1706–90, American statesman, scientist, and author. He helped draw up the Declaration of Independence (1776) and, as ambassador to France (1776–85), he negotiated an alliance with France and a peace settlement with Britain. As a scientist, he is noted particularly for his researches in electricity, esp his invention of the lightning conductor
3.
Sir John. 1786–1847, English explorer of the Arctic: lieutenant-governor of Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) (1836–43): died while on a voyage to discover the Northwest Passage
4.
Rosalind. 1920–58, British x-ray crystallographer. She contributed to the discovery of the structure of DNA, before her premature death from cancer

surname attested from late 12c., Middle English Frankeleyn, from Anglo-French fraunclein “a land-owner of free but not noble birth,” from Old French franc “free” (see frank (adj.)), with Germanic suffix also found in chamberlain.

The Franklin stove (1787) so called because it was invented by U.S. scientist/politician Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). In early 19c., lightning rods often were called Franklins.

Franklin Frank·lin (frāngk’lĭn), Rosalind. 1920-1958.

British biophysicist. Her x-ray diffraction studies of DNA led to the description of the full structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick.
Franklin
(frāngk’lĭn)
American public official, scientist, inventor, and writer who fully established the distinction between negative and positive electricity, proved that lightning and electricity are identical, and suggested that buildings could be protected by lightning conductors. He also invented bifocal glasses, established the direction of the prevailing storm track in North America and determined the existence of the Gulf Stream.
Franklin, Rosalind Elsie 1920-1958.
British x-ray crystallographer whose diffraction images, made by directing x-rays at DNA, provided crucial information that led to the discovery of its structure as a double helix by Francis Crick and James D. Watson.

Our Living Language : James D. Watson and Francis Crick’s famous double helix model of the structure of DNA is rightly considered one of the greatest scientific discoveries ever made. While Watson and Crick became famous the world over, later sharing the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine, the contributions of Rosalind Franklin are less well-known, even though her work was crucial to their discovery. Franklin’s x-ray photograph depicting the double-helix shape of DNA gave Watson and Crick the essential experimental evidence they needed to determine DNA’s structure. Born in London in 1920 to a wealthy Anglo-Jewish family, Franklin attended the University of Cambridge, where she earned a doctorate in physical chemistry. It was there that she learned x-ray crystallography, a process used to determine the structure of molecules by bombarding them with x-rays and analyzing the resultant diffraction patterns. Franklin later accepted a post at King’s College London in 1951 to study DNA, thus entering the race to discover the molecule’s structure. Without her knowledge, a close colleague at King’s, Maurice Wilkins, showed her unpublished research to Watson and Crick, who were then able to establish DNA’s configuration and soon after published their findings in the journal Nature. When Franklin saw the model produced by Watson and Crick, she accepted it immediately, as it fit with her experimental data. Franklin left King’s in 1953 and continued a distinguished career, studying the structure of viruses. She died of ovarian cancer at 37, never knowing how her own work had contributed to their important discovery.

noun

A hundred-dollar bill; c-note: He peels off another five Franklins

[1990s+; fr its portrait of Benjamin Franklin]