Dorothy Hodgkin

In 1937, Dorothy Hodgkin married Thomas Lionel Hodgkin, who later became a well-known Oxford lecturer. He also authored number of books on African history and politics. The couple had three children: Luke (born 1938), Elizabeth (born 1941) and Toby (born 1946).

Her scientific mentor, Professor John Desmond Bernal, also had great influence on her life. Although she always referred to him as ‘Sage’, there was a rumor that they were lovers.

From the age of 24, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, which became progressively worse and crippled her hands and feet. Eventually she became wheelchair bound; yet remained scientifically active.

Dorothy Hodgkin was born as Dorothy Mary Crowfoot on 12 May 1910, in Cairo, Egypt to renowned archeologists, John Winter Crowfoot and Grace Mary Crowfoot née Hood. She was the eldest of her parents’ four daughters.

Initially, Dorothy lived with her parents in Egypt. In 1914, while on a yearly visit to her grandparents, the family was caught up in the First World War. Subsequently, her parents returned to Egypt, leaving four year old Dorothy and her two younger sisters with her grandparents at Worthing, West Sussex.

Since that time, she lived apart from her parents. After the war, Grace Crowfoot came back to England for one year. By that time, her youngest daughter was born. She shifted the family first to Nettleham, Lincolnshire and then to Beccles in Suffolk.

At Beccles, Dorothy was first admitted to the Parents’ National Educational Union School. In 1921, she was shifted to Sir John Leman School, where she studied till 1927. In this school, girls were not allowed to attend chemistry classes. However, Dorothy gave a tough fight and was ultimately allowed an entry.

In 1927, Dorothy earned her school leaving certificate with distinction in six subjects. Subsequently, she spent one year studying botany and Latin.

Meanwhile in 1936, a year before she received her PhD, Dorothy Hodgkin was appointed as an Official Fellow and a Tutor in Natural Science at the Somerville College in Oxford. She remained with the University till her retirement in 1977.

*Initially, she worked in the Department of Mineralogy and Crystallography. Later when department was divided Hodgkin continued her work in the sub-department of Chemical Crystallography. However, because she was a woman, she was officially barred from attending research meetings of the faculty chemistry club.

In the initial period, the laboratory condition was also very primitive. It was housed in one corner of Oxford University Museum of Natural History. It had only one window, which was accessed through a rickety staircase. Neither did she have any student to work under her.

Slowly, she began to collect money and with that she bought X-ray apparatus for her laboratory. Once that was done, she began to take X-ray photographs of insulin, a study she began in 1934.

However, taking photos was the easier part of the job. To study them, she had to climb the rickety stairs and reach the window, which was the only source of light. By and by, her perseverance and talent won over the students; then the faculty members too began to notice her.

Dorothy Hodgkin is best known for her determination of the biochemical structure of penicillin G, vitamin B-12 and insulin. Among them, she took up her research in penicillin sometime in 1942.