From an early age Franklin’s interest in science was supported by her family. Franklin's passions led her to the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l'Etat in Paris. There she fell in love with Paris, cycling, climbing, and the study of molecular structures. She reluctantly left Paris for King’s College where her contributions to DNA’s structure occurred and she was barred from entering the main dining room on the basis of gender. She left King’s after 2 years, she went on to research on virus structures at Birkbeck College. Franklin died of ovarian cancer at 37 years old.