Dorothy Hodgkin

"I was captured for life by chemistry and by crystals"

BIOGRAPHY

Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin was born in El Cairo, Egypt in 1910, 12th of May. She started to get interested in sciences when she was 10 years old, due to her homemade experiments. When she was 15, reading the book ‘The Nature of Things’, marked her beginnings in the science. She studied in Oxford, and during her last year she specialized in crystallography of x-rays. Crystallography refers to the study of the formations and structure of crystals. In 1916, she moved to Sudan, where his father had been appointed as Director of Education. During this time, his love of colors and patterns, that was useful for future work in crystallography, was encouraged.

Dorothy continued training and studying chemistry at the University of Oxford (1928-1932), attending classes taught by several teachers with Nobel prizes. Later, she moved to Cambridge where she started to work with the Irish scientist John Desmond Bernal, one of the best in Crystallography.

Following, she returned to Oxford to held an investigation vacancy, where she stayed the rest of her professional life.

In 1937, she get married with the historian Thomas Hodgkin, her surname changed into Crowfoot-Hodgkin.
In 1947, she was chosen member of the Royal Society of London.
In 1964, she was awarded a Nobel Prize of Chemistry.
In 1969, she discovered the structure of some medicaments.

Unfortunately, she died in 1994 in the United Kingdom, when she was 84 years old.

IMPORTANCE

Hodgkin was important for discovering the three-dimensional biomolecular structures. They were the shape that was formed by a protein or DNA molecule that carries out a function. Besides, she was important for applying the X-ray crystallography. It was a tool used for identifying the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal.

DISCOVERIES

In 1945, she published the first structure. She solved the structure of penicillin who was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. She demonstrated that the opinion of the scientist was wrong because it contained β-Lactam or beta-lactam. Those were a ring composed of organic compounds of carbon atoms that form a ring shape, called lactams.

In 1948, Hodgkin found new things of the vitamin B12 which was discovered by natural causes. Vitamin B12 had a fascinating structure, so she realized an actualization structure. From these molecules, she deduced the presence of a special structure which she later confirmed using the X-ray theory. In 1954, she finally published the structure.

In 1969, she published the structure of insulin.

Insulin is a type of molecule produced in the pancreas. Some people suffer from diabetes, it is a kind of life threatening allergy. Diabetes is produced because the pancreas doesn't work well so it doesn't generate insulin, that is the reason why the body does not assimilate the food that contains glucose. For this reason they inject like artificial insulin so that their body can assimilate the glucose of the aliments.

Hodgkin also developed the cholesterol and a few things more.

NOBEL PRIZE

She received the nobel prize in Chemistry in the 1964, for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances.

She was the third woman ever to win the Nobel Prize in chemistry after Marie Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie.

INFLUENCE IN SOCIETY

Insulin has transformed the lives of millions of diabetics around the world. Without Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin’s pioneering and patient efforts, the structure of insulin wouldn’t be discovered and so there won’t be any use of insulin.

Like many scientists, Dorothy was a social activist. She spent much of her time supporting the cause of scientists in developing countries; she was especially concerned about those in China and India.

Dorothy was president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. The conferences, which were very popular between science students in that time, bring together scientists from all over the world to discuss the peaceful means of achieving international security development and how science can help to accomplish those goals.

Anyway, her life made a huge difference to our world nowadays,

although we do not notice it, because she used her chemistry knowledge to solve important medical problems.

Despite her findings, when we pronounce the name of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, hardly anyone knows who is her, even though it is a name we should know.

Eventually, Dorothy’s rheumatoid arthritis made it impossible for her to maintain such a busy schedule.

INTERESTING FACTS

Her work was published under her marital name, Crowfoot, until 1949.
She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when she was 24 years old. She would continue to suffer from this for the rest of her life. It affected both hands and feet. When she was older, she needed the assistance of a wheelchair.
Apart from receiving the Nobel Prize, she also received other awards such as the Order of Merit, the Copley Medal (she was the first woman to receive this award), and the Lenin Peace Prize, which was similar to the Nobel Prize but in the Soviet Union.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Link to a prezi presentation. It will help you to understand better the concepts. Hope you enjoy it!

Dorothy Hodgkin

Paula Soto & Lucía Mosquera

Laude Fontenebro School

3ºA ESO