'Forgotten' female scientist Rosalind Franklin honoured by a new plaque at a Cambridge pub

A graffitied memorial plaque has been replaced to reflect the role one the UK's most significant female scientists had in the discovery of DNA.

For 23 years, the sign outside the Eagle in Cambridge has commemorated the night James Crick and Francis Watson announced their discovery of the famous double-helix structure at the pub.

But until now the only mention of the contribution of Rosalind Franklin - whose X-ray photo revealed the structure - was the scrawled "+Franklin" written by hand at the bottom of the blue plaque.

That has now been put right, with an updated plaque unveiled in Cambridge ahead of it being installed at the pub in the coming weeks.

Penny Heath, of the committee which replaced the plaque, said it was "an exciting day".

"This plaque has sat here for 23 years. It was about an event, and Crick and Watson were in the public and Franklin wasn't there, but the reality is that Franklin was incredibly important to this journey, this discovery of the structure of DNA."

For decades the Eagle was the local pub for scientists from the nearby Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University.

It was there on 28 February 1953 that Francis Crick and James Watson, who had been working at the laboratory that day, celebrated their discovery of the structure of DNA.

The pub is owned by Corpus Christi College, which has supported the installation of the new plaque.

Prof Chris Howe, deputy master at Corpus Christi College, said: "I think it is very important because one wants to make the plaque as accurate a reflection of what happened as possible.

"Huge numbers of people walk past the plaque and look at it every day, and it's important for us as the college and in the interests of science history to make sure it is as accurate as it can possibly be."

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