Time 23Mar2020

(Frankie) #1
Time March 16–23, 2020

1950s

1954


Marilyn Monroe
Icon for the ages


In 1954, Marilyn Monroe—already a


sex symbol and a movie star—posed
on the corner of Lexington Avenue and
52nd Street in New York City, for a scene


intended to appear in her 1955 film
The Seven Year Itch. The breeze blow-


ing up through a subway
grate sent her white dress
billowing around her, an


image that lingers today
like a joyful, animated
ghost. Monroe was a stun-


ner, but she was also a brilliant actor and
comedian who strove to be taken seriously
in a world of men who wanted to see her


only as an object of desire. Today, espe-
cially in a world after Harvey Weinstein’s


downfall, she stands as a woman who
fought a system that was rigged against
her from the start. She brought us such


pleasure, even as our hearts broke for her.
ÑStephanie Zacharek


1953


Rosalind Franklin


Visionary scientist


Without Rosalind Franklin, there may


have been no James Watson and Francis
Crick. Trained as a chemist, she created
an X-ray that showed the double- helix


structure of DNA molecules. Watson
knew the image and the data Franklin
derived from it were crucial. Watson,


Crick and their col-
league Maurice Wilkins
came by the image and
data legitimately, but no
one pretends they could
have proved the struc-
ture of DNA without her work. When
Watson and Crick published their find-


ings, Franklin wasn’t credited. She died
of cancer at 37 in 1958. In my efforts to
support cancer research, I’ve met female


scientists who are respected by their male
colleagues. I’m sorry Rosalind Franklin


wasn’t. —Katie Couric


Couric is a journalist


56

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