Ok.  This one is quite frankly impressive…  I thought that maybe no one was going to get it just like the unanswered Week 9:  Unclaimed honor.

The Forensic Science Geek of the Week

This week’s “www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week” honors goes to:

RON MOORE, B.S., J.D.

RON MOORE, www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week!
Congratulations to our winner!  All hail the www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week!!!

About our winner:

Mr. Moore received a BS in Biology from U.C. Riverside in 1988, a JD from Western State University College of Law in 2003, and  an AS in Culinary Arts from Saddleback College in 2009.

Ron worked as a Forensic Scientist at the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner Forensic Science Services Laboratory from 1989 to 2007. During his tenure at the OC Crime Lab, he worked in Toxicology, Blood and Breath Alcohol, Drug Analysis, Firearm and Toolmark Examination, and Crime Scene Investigation. He completed his time at the lab with18 months supervising the Blood and Breath Alcohol sections. He is very familiar with the Intoxilyzer 5000, Datamaster, and Alco-Sensor IV breath testing instruments used during the years he was with the lab.  Mr. Moore testified for both the prosecution and defense in over 450 DUI cases, and in many major crime cases.  He assisted in the investigation of approximately 50 homicides and 25 officer involved shootings, attending and collecting evidence at over 100 autopsies.

Mr. Moore left the OC Crime Lab to become the in-house forensic scientist and attorney in the Law Office of Barry T. Simons.  Ron’s duties included case review and discovery planning, legal and scientific research, calendar appearances, DMV administrative hearings, web site development and video production.

Ron left the firm in 2010 to move closer to his family and to open his own practice as an independent forensic toxicologist, assisting attorneys with case review and consultation, expert witness appearances, and training.

RON MOORE is Week 12’s www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week!

Congratulations to our winner! All hail the www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week!!!

See the challenge question that our winner correctly answered.

Our winner answered the question correctly.  Please visit the www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com FaceBook fan page.
Our Geek of the Week answered:

Ron Moore, BS, JD answered:

Maurice Wilkins, Watson and Crick, and Rosalind Franklin. Wilkins, Watson, and Crick shared the Nobel Prize for elucidating the structure of DNA, based in part on Franklin’s X-Ray crystallography. She died of ovarian cancer prior to the Nobel Prize being awarded, but the guys really stole the show and didn’t give her credit.

Blogger’s note just to amplify the context of it all:  Even today, being a woman in science is very tough.  Being a pioneer woman in science is even tougher.  According to Francis Crick, “the data we actually used” to formulate Crick and Watson’s 1953 hypothesis regarding the structure of DNA came from Rosalind Franklin.  Watson and Crick used stick-and-ball models to test their ideas on the possible structure of DNA.  Other scientists used experimental methods instead.  Among them were Rosalind Franklin , who was using X-ray diffraction to understand the physical structure of the DNA molecule.  Instead, it was Franklin’s famous “photograph 51” that finally revealed the helical structure of DNA to Watson and Crick in 1953.  This picture of DNA that had been crystallized under moist conditions shows a fuzzy X in the middle of the molecule, a pattern indicating a helical structure.  Rosalind Franklin died in 1958.  As a rule only living persons can be nominated for the Nobel Prize, so the 1962 Nobel Prize was out of the question.  The Nobel archives, at the Nobel Prize-awarding institutions, that among other things contain the nominations connected to the prizes, are held closed.  But 50 years after a particular prize had been awarded, the archives concerning the nominees are released.  Therefore, in 2008 it was possible to see whether Rosalind Franklin ever was a nominee for the Nobel Prize concerning the DNA helix.  The answer is that no one ever nominated her – neither for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine nor in Chemistry.

Reference:  Maddox, B. (2003). The double helix and the `wronged heroine. Nature 421:407

Although the www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week was earned by our good friend Ron Moore, I am wondering if he would mind sharing this honor with Rosalind Franklin?

The Hall of Fame for the www.TheTruthAboutForensicScience.com Forensic Science Geek of the Week:
Week 1:  Chuck Ramsay, Esquire

Week 2:  Rick McIndoe, PhD

Week 3:  Christine Funk, Esquire

Week 4:  Stephen Daniels

Week 5:  Stephen Daniels

Week 6:  Richard Middlebrook, Esquire

Week 7:  Christine Funk, Esquire

Week 8:  Ron Moore, B.S., J.D.

Week 9:  Unclaimed, check it out and claim the honor

Week 10:  Kelly Case, Esquire and Michael Dye, Esquire

Week 11:  Brian Manchester, Esquire

Week 12: Ron Moore, B.S., J.D.

Next week’s challenge will be posted on Sunday morning at 11 am EST.  I AM LOOKING FOR SUGGESTIONS please email me at justin@TheMcShaneFirm.com