DeeStonewallSep 23, 2023
Sheril Kirshenbaum

Born in 1910, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin perfected X-ray crystallography, a type of imaging using X-rays to determine a molecule’s three-dimensional structure.

She determined the structures of insulin, penicillin & vitamin B12, leading to tremendous advances in medicine.

Hodgkin was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964. She also advocated for world peace, campaigning against both the Vietnam War & nuclear weapons. https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories/dorothy-hodgkin #HistoryRemix #science #history

The Nobel Prize | Women who changed science | Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

“Captured for life by chemistry and by crystals,” as she described it, Dorothy Hodgkin turned a childhood interest in crystals into the ground-breaking use of X-ray crystallography to “see” the molecules of penicillin, vitamin B12 and insulin. Her work not only allowed researchers to better understand and manufacture life-saving substances, it also made crystallography an indispensable scientific tool.

Sep 23, 2023 at 12:53amMetatext
Show threadTopKnotSep 23, 2023
@Sheril
Her photo is what I'd call, "Old School Cool."
Show threadJames M.Sep 23, 2023
@Sheril it was also X-ray crystallography that Rosalind Franklin used to discover the structure of DNA. Thanks for this post, I didn't know about Hodgkin!
Show threadKelley GrahamSep 23, 2023
@Sheril @Wrenii
Show threadArchaeoIainSep 23, 2023
@Sheril a remarkable family the Hodgkins. Our family doctor was one. Responsible for courses in General Practice in at least three countries.
Show threadPete ZicatoSep 23, 2023

@Sheril

Wow. What a gal. Sharp as razors. Will of iron. And cute as a button. The wiki article talks about her rheumatoid arthritis. How can you think with all that pain?

Thanks for introducing her, Sheril.

Show threadSAFIKAMAL79Sep 23, 2023
@Sheril Looking very innocent
Show threadFlorian HaasSep 23, 2023

@Sheril There's an *excellent* In Our Time episode on her.

In Our Time: Dorothy Hodgkin
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0008wkk

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Dorothy Hodgkin

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

BBC
Show threadHealth Is WealthSep 23, 2023
@Sheril So that's what she looks like! What an amazing woman. You may already known but she is one of the entries in Rachel Ignotofsky's brilliant book: 'Women In Science - 50 fearless pioneers who changed the world'. #rachelignotofsky #womeninscience
Show threadFazal MajidSep 23, 2023
@Sheril
She also had a student then known as Margaret Roberts, better known under her married name of Thatcher, who was prouder to be the first British PM from a science background than the first woman PM.
Show threadBashStKidSep 23, 2023
@Sheril
I'm tempted to say it's hard to appreciate just how difficult Hodgkin's work, complex crystallography in the pre-computer age, was.
Insight and imagination taken for granted, but an unbelieveable amount of endless hard work and tedious calculation.
Show threadJudeSep 24, 2023
@Sheril Keeping a catalogue of these women scientists whom I never heard about growing up (or after). It would have been (and is) inspiring to know we had mentors.
Show threadCps10001Sep 24, 2023
@Sheril A great woman.
Show threadFerryoonsSep 24, 2023
Somebody I have special cause to be grateful to.