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Rosalind Franklin Papers  The Holes in Coal: Research at BCURA
and in Paris, 1942-1951  [Rosalind Franklin on hiking trip in
the Alps]. [ca. 1949]. Documents Visuals  Rosalind Franklin was
awarded her BA degree in 1941, and spent the following year
honing her research skills during a fellowship at Cambridge,
under R. G. W. Norrish's supervision. In 1942 World War II was
raging across Europe and in the Pacific, and every able-bodied
citizen was expected to contribute to the war effort. Franklin
very much wanted to continue doing research, but knew she was
unlikely to be assigned such work; men with science training
were routinely drafted to do research, but women rarely were. At
best, they might fill in as university lecturers. She was
relieved to find a position as Assistant Research Officer with
the British Coal Utilisation Research Association (BCURA), a new
organization dedicated to researching the production,
distribution, and use of coal and its de