Alan Lloyd Hodgkin

@Physiologists, Timeline and Childhood ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was an English biophysicist and a physiologist who received the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963 British Trinity College, Cambridge Scientists Biophysicists Physiologists Aquarius Celebrities Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was an English biophysicist and a physiologist who received the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Sir John Eccles and Andrew Fielding Huxley for discovering the chemical processes which controlled the transmission of electrical impulses from one nerve cell in the brain to another though nerve fibers. He and his fellow scientists introduced microelectrodes into the giant nerve fibers of a squid and showed that the electrical potential of a nerve fiber transmitting an impulse is higher than a nerve fiber which remains at rest. This discovery was in contradiction to the earlier hypothesis that nerve membranes break down when an impulse was transmitted. This theory formulated by Hodgkin and Huxley is known as the ‘voltage clamp’. They found that a large amount of potassium ions is concentrated inside a nerve fiber while the solution which surrounds the fibers has a large concentration of sodium ions. They proved with the help of experiments that nerve fibers allow only potassium ions to pass through the membrane when they are at rest while only sodium ions are allowed passage when the fibers are excited. The continuous sequence of depolarization that occurs to the nerve cell membranes discovered by him is known as the ‘Hodgkin Cycle’.

Personal Details

Birthday: February 5, 1914 Died on: December 20, 1998 Nationality: British Famous: Physiologists, Trinity College, Cambridge, Scientists, Biophysicists, Physiologists Spouses: Marion Rous Childrens: Deborah, Jonathan, Rachel, Sarah Universities: Trinity College, Cambridge Information Detail Birthday February 5, 1914 Died on December 20, 1998 Nationality British Famous Physiologists, Trinity College, Cambridge, Scientists, Biophysicists, Physiologists Spouses Marion Rous Childrens Deborah, Jonathan, Rachel, Sarah Universities Trinity College, Cambridge Notable Alumnis Trinity College Cambridge Birth Place Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK Gender Male Father George Hodgkin Mother Mary Wilson Sun Sign Aquarius Born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK Famous as Biophysicist & Physiologist Died at Age 84

Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin born at Unsplash Birth Place

While working at the Rockfeller Institute, he met Marion Rous, daughter of the famous pathologist Peyton Rous, and married her in 1944. Unsplash Personal Life

He had a son, Jonathan, after two daughters, Sarah and Deborah, and then the youngest daughter, Rachel, from this marriage. Unsplash Personal Life

Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin died in Cambridge, England on December 20, 1998. Unsplash Personal Life

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England on February 5, 1914 to George Hodgkin and Mary Wilson. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

When his father died of dysentery in 1918 in Baghdad, his mother re-married Lionel Smith. They lived with him thereafter. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He studied at the ‘The Downs School, Malvern’ from 1923 to 1927 and later at the ‘Gresham’s School, Holt’ from 1927 to 1932. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

He joined the Trinity College affiliated to the Cambridge University in 1932 and studied there till 1936. Unsplash Childhood & Early Life

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin started his experiments on the nervous system of frogs in 1935 while he was at the University of Cambridge. Unsplash Career

He received an invitation from Gasser to work at his laboratory located in the Rockfeller Institute in New York in 1937. Unsplash Career

From 1937 to 1938 he learnt to dissect squid axons with the help of K. S. Cole at ‘Woods Hole’. Unsplash Career

He returned to Cambridge in 1938 and started to work with one of his students, A.F. Huxley. Unsplash Career

He worked for the ‘British Air Ministry’ from 1939 to 1940 on aviation medicine with Matthews at Farnborough. Unsplash Career

Sir Alan Hodgkin’s writings include the book titled ‘Conduction of the Nervous Impulse’ which was published in 1964. Unsplash Major Works

He published his autobiography titled ‘Chance and Design: Reminiscences of Science in Peace and War’ in 1992. Unsplash Major Works

Information	Detail
Birthday	February 5, 1914
Died on	December 20, 1998
Nationality	British
Famous	Physiologists, Trinity College, Cambridge, Scientists, Biophysicists, Physiologists
Spouses	Marion Rous
Childrens	Deborah, Jonathan, Rachel, Sarah
Universities	Trinity College, Cambridge
Notable Alumnis	Trinity College Cambridge
Birth Place	Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Gender	Male
Father	George Hodgkin
Mother	Mary Wilson
Sun Sign	Aquarius
Born in	Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK
Famous as	Biophysicist & Physiologist
Died at Age	84

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin

British

Feb 5, 1914

Biography

Personal Details

Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK