Dorothy Hodgkin
The Life of a Great Scientist
Dorothy Hodgkin was an incredible female scientist known for her work in X-ray Crystallography and her awarded Nobel Prize for her work on the structures of penicillin and vitamin B12 (Ferry). Hodgkin was known for using passion and persistence in her work, rather than competitiveness, which is what contributed to her large success. She was born on May 12, 1910 in Cairo, where her father John Winter Crawfoot was in the Egyptian education service. She had an unusual upbringing; she was homeschooled by her mother Grace Mary Crawfoot while living in Africa and the Middle East. Her mother was a major influence on her love for science; she worked in archeology and botany. Both of her parents worked in Archeology and in colonial admission. Although Dorothy pursued her career in crystallography, she had a wide range of talents and a naturally broad education that could of lead her to a wider range of careers. At a very young age Hodgkin and her sisters learned all about archeology, botany, and geology. Her parents had them record their lessons in reports in pen and watercolor for illustrations, which were incredible for a 10-12 year- old girl.
When entering her career in crystallography, she quickly realized that her intellectual peers were much more advanced than her. Hodgkin missed out on traditional learning of mathematics and languages and had to rely on the only education she received as a teenager at school in England. Her collogues commented that her education was neither mathematical nor symbolic, but unusually strong in three-dimensional pattern recognition, imaging, and mapping, all talents she developed by the technical illustrations she and her sisters did for her father (Root-Bernstein). When she was younger, she specialized in mosaics, which required her to analyze and accurately depict the repetitions in their patterns. From this talent she was able to quickly learn the fundamental principles of two-dimensional symmetries (Root-Bernstein). During her years as a Chemistry Major at Oxford she started to think about the restraints imposed by 3D orders in space as well. She was able to pursue her curiosity by drawing, photographing, and analyzing other art forms. Hodgkin’s owes most of her natural talents to her parent’s eagerness for her to learn at a young age. In a letter she wrote to her parents she said: “It really is a relief to have the chemical work mixed up with so much drawing “. She was able to interpret her love for art into her work in crystals. She learned new techniques for accurately recording crystal structures and took a lot of joy in transforming X-ray data into structural photos (Root).
While studying at Oxford, her general interest in chemistry and biochemistry turned into a determination to study X-ray crystallography. After attending a few lectures taught by Dr. Baker, he feared that she was starting too soon and advised Hodgkin to put off her studies of crystallography for a year and focus on chemistry. Unfortunately, Baker died soon afterwards resulting in a delay in her teachings of crystallography. After graduating with honors, she was eager to continue her work in crystallography. She opened her eyes to what was possible for her and her future in crystallography. She was persuaded by her tutor to work with the newly appointed University Demonstrator in X-ray crystallography, where her appointed her a suitable project. She was assigned to symbolize and crystalize the crystal structure of the dimethyl thallium halides and found that the best crystals were those containing bromide (Root-Bernstein).
After graduating, she soon discovered that the rest of her career would be taking place at Oxford, where she was able to establish herself in the scientific community. There she met her husband, Thomas Hodgkin, who at the time was struggling with his own career. The couple had two children and immediately after starting their family Dorothy became ill with breast abscess, high fever, and rheumatoid arthritis, which eventually became a chronic condition. Despite her illness, her friends and family gave her the support she needed to further her scientific career. As she became more active, she inherited Bernell’s X-ray equipment and started working with two of his students. Even during her tense time fighting her illness, she was able to calculate Patterson’s functions with the insulin date (Root-Bernstein). Later she entered penicillin program, which was extremely urgent and secret. In 1947, she was the third woman to be elected to the Fellowship of The Royal Society, which was a sign that she was now recognized as a scientific figure.
After returning to Oxford she opened her own laboratory and continued teaching in chemistry She was a tough but fair teacher but being such a wonderful chemist, she was able to bring a broad perspective to her students. She ran her laboratory in an informal manner, but her own beliefs required a rigorous approach to crystallography and structure determination. She enjoyed having an informal atmosphere in her work place, considering her life outside was a bit hectic. Due to her arthritis, she had trouble using her mineralogical for examining crystals. She also used this microscope to take and develop X-ray photographs and then from the diffraction pattern makes deductions to great effect about the space group and molecular packing (Root-Bernstein). Despite her physical conditions challenging her work, WWII brought upon new and extreme challenges to her research. Thanks to the Rockefeller foundation for providing funding, Oxford was one last few functioning crystallographic laboratories in the UK. The Rockefeller foundation also provided her with funding throughout the war, turning an extremely difficult time into a sense of relief that she could continue her work. Without the Rockefeller funds, the difficult times could have ended Dorothy’s career, leaving all her work for nothing.
Dorothy and her partner Tiny Powell had been the two leading Oxford crystallographers and collogue for over 40 years. Despite their shared views in research, they had very opposing views on everything else. This created a problem in their work, they often lacked communication. Despite her small conflicts with Powell, she went on to study the structure of the B-12 vitamin. She discovered that the need for computers is crucial when conducting many research projects. She knew that computing these calculations were critical, before the B-12 research was conducted on hand held calculators and then put onto large punch-card machines, same thing for her research in penicillin. Unfortunately, even with the new computer calculation system, discovering the B-12 structure was much more complex and would take years to complete.
Throughout all her hard work, struggles, illnesses, and support, she is now considered the founder of X-ray crystallography, a technique used to discern the structures or organic biomolecules. Her other discovery of insulin’s 3D structure paved the way for many scientific breakthroughs in diabetes research for years to follow. During her time in school, she made the right decision to follow her heart and continue her research in crystallography. Through her use of X-ray crystallography, she was able to determine the structures of many important biochemical structures, such as penicillin and vitamin B-12. After nearly 35 years of research, Hodgkin was able to significantly improve the X-ray crystallography methods to understand complex 3D structure of porcine insulin (Houghton). Her intensive research showed the overlay between the A chain and the B chain in the porcine insulin molecule (Houghton). Her discovery of insulin’s 3D structure paved the way for many medical and scientific discoveries. Diabetes care has now greatly improved due to her research; doctors are now able to use insulin for patients with diabetes who produce no to very little insulin. Hodgkin was also able to determine the 3D structure of penicillin using X-ray crystallography. Her goal was to help scientists better understand how the vitamin is used in the body to prevent pernicious anemia. At the time, penicillin was the largest molecule to have succumbed to X-ray methods; her technique had resolved a dispute between eminent organic chemists about its structure. As a result of all her hard work, Dr. Hodgkin was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her discoveries. Hodgkin was the third woman to ever receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and remains the only British woman to have won this category (American Scientist).
Dorothy Hodgkin may have been one of the most important female scientists, which many people are not aware of. She was one of the greatest leaders and innovators in her field and had a major impact on the scientific world. She was the only British female scientist to win a Nobel Prize, which rightfully recognized her work in chemistry using X-ray crystallography to determine the 3D structure of penicillin, insulin, and the B-12 structure. Her development of new antibiotics is crucial in today’s world where some bacteria has developed resistance to existing drugs. Her 3D structure of the insulin molecule has tremendously helped with diabetes control. When it comes to being the founder of X-ray crystallography, she also discovered that it’s best to keep the crystals wet with the liquid they are grown from, if the crystals dry out the molecules start to lose their ordered arrangement. Hodgkin’s pioneering work in crystallography gave birth to a whole new field that applied the methods she developed to large biologically important molecules, including DNA and proteins. In other words, she was not only an exceptional scientist, but also a role model to female scientists all around the world. She is an inspiration for female scientists who have dealt with challenges facing their work, whether it is physical or external sources. Her life was a shining example of someone who sticks to his or her beliefs, follows their heart and doesn’t let anything stop them from achieving their goals.