Time March 16–23, 20201950s1954
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
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