Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkins, Biochemistry
Hodgkin is a world-renowned British chemist who did groundbreaking work on X-ray crystallography which was used to explore the structure of a large number of biomolecules like insulin and vitamin B12. Her research was critical for understanding the function of these molecules and was essential in the development of the treatment of many diseases associated with these biomolecules (The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1964). Hodgkin’s success story is unfortunately one of the few in her time.
She was born in 1910 to parents who encouraged her to develop her talents. She attended Sir John Leman School and, after putting up a fight, was allowed to join the boys in the chemistry class while all the other girls were put in the domestic sciences class (Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin). She was first in her class due to her passion for science and her desire to put her skills at the service of society. Hodgkin went on to study chemistry at Oxford and later at Somerville College where she was advised by her male tutor to research X-ray crystallography.
She spent the majority of her professional career teaching chemistry in women’s colleges and researching in her lab with a small laboratory team and in 1964 won the nobel prize “for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances.” During her nobel prize banquet speech, she commented that she “wanted to take applied chemistry instead of needlework but didn’t think it would be of use to me financially.” (The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1964) It is evident that she worked not for personal gain or in order to beat out her competitors but she was motivated by the possibility of improving the public health conditions of her time. This is demonstrated by her selfless work done on the research of penicillin hydrochloride during the Second World War. As there were an increasing number of fatalities due to bacterial diseases during the war, she started to study ways to improve the treatments and her work made possible the mass production of penicillin which was used to combat these diseases (Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin).
Her selfless dedication to working for the good of others, and not for the sake of competition, reputation, or financial gain, is admirable and something that many more women can bring to their career benefitting both the professional institutions and society as a whole. She had her focus on using the scientific technology available in an ethical way and putting her talents at the service of society.
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin. Science History Institute, 2018, https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin. Accessed 22 Feb 2018.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1964. Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 22 Feb 2018. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1964/
