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Dorothy Hodgkin

Matilde Loppo

Created on October 8, 2024

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Transcript

Matilde Loppo 4°A LSA

the beginning of her career

Dorothy Hodgkin

some facts about her life

LIfe as postgraduated

The third woman to win a nobel prize

who is Dorothy Hodgkin?

The first difficulties

the Hodgkin fellowship scheme

her biggest succcess

this is not the end

In memory of Dorothy and her brilliant work, the Royal society launched in 1995 the Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship scheme, specifically aimed at supporting talented early career scientists needing flexibility due to caring responsibilities or personal health reasons, to enable them tobuild an independent research career

Who is Dorothy Hodgkin?

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was a british biochemist and cristallographer, a pioneer in the technique of x-ray diffraction and winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1964.She was a as well as a brilliant mind, a very feminist and she truly believed in her independence.

The birth of her love

Her interest in science

A privilege for few women: studying

In chemistry, Dorothy and her classmates made solutions of alum and copper sulphate from which, over time, fascinating crystals emerged. These experiments were the key for her brilliant mind: "I WAS CAPTURED FOR LIFE BY CHEMISTRY AND CRYSTALS" she said.

Dorothy was a very clever girl and, at just ten years old, was allowed to attend chemistry courses reserved for boys, demostrating from a very young age her determination to make her way in the scientific field.

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was born on May 12, 1910 in Cairo. Daughter of two british archeologist, she showed a lively interest in science from an early age thanks to her parents profession.

Her biggest success

During WW2, Dorothy was aware of the urgent to refine the use of antibiotics and this awarness led her to determine the structure of penicillin.Then she discovered the structure of vitamin B12.

in 1947 she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal society and she received the royal medal in 1956 with the order of merit in 1965.

All this succesfull discoveries led her to win a Nobel Prize in 1964revolutionizing the entire world of sciencce

Life as a postgraduated

After obtaining a degree in chemistry in 1932, she undertook a PHD (doctorate) in the cristallography investigation of steroid crystals. Working with her supervisor John Desmond Bernal, she managed to "potograph" Some biological molecules including a small enzyme in gastric jiuce.

The first difficulties

In 1938, with a a baby, and a blossoming research career, an infection triggered Hodgkin's first attack of rheumatoid arthriths.After a few weeks' treatment at a specialist clinic, Hodgkin returned to the lab and there she found that she could no longer use the main switch of the x-ray equipment required in the experiments.

It was during her PHD, that Dorothy first visited a consultant about pain in her hands and he found that she was affected by "ulna deviation". In order to resolve the situation, the doctor prescribed her rest but, Dorothy was determined to finish some experiments and decided to noT listen to him.

Her firts goal was the hormone insuline and his structure. She described it as an "impossible complex" quest, but after three decades of work she succeded in solving the complete molecule.

Over the following decades, arthritis does not appear to have held Dorothy back. She succeded in determining the scructure of Cholesterol by x-ray cristallography.

In 1928, Dorothy embarked on a degree in chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford and it was during her fourth years that she opted for a project to investigate the crystal structure of dimethyl thallium holides. This led her to seek her place in cristallography.

She created a personal laboratory in an attic of the family home in Beccles, Suffolk. Here she gathered natural history specimens and performed analyses using a treasured chemistry set given to her by a family friend.

After this successes and although the pain, Dorothy never gave up and took a lot of conferences thanks to the help of her family; she retired from public life in 1988 and died in 1944.

Dorothy is remembered as a kind, independent and talented woman who gave all her liofe for science.