Authorised form of name | Hodgkin; Dorothy Mary Crowfoot (1910 - 1994); chemist and crystallographer |
Dates | 1910 - 1994 |
Nationality | British |
Place of birth | Guizeh, near Cairo, Egypt, Africa |
Date of birth | 12/05/1910 |
Place of death | Ilmington, near Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, England |
Date of death | 29/07/1994 |
Occupation | chemist and crystallographer |
Research field | Biochemistry |
Crystal chemistry |
Structural biology |
Chemical crystallography |
X-ray crystallography |
Activity | Education: Sir John Leman School, Beccles; Newnham College Cambridge; Somerville College, Oxford (1928-1932, Chemistry) Career: Research work on sterols, with J D Bernal (FRS 1937) at Cambridge; returned to Oxford and continued work with X-ray analysis; University Lecturer and Demonstrator (1946); University Reader in X-ray crystallography (1956); Wolfson Research Professor of the Royal Society (1960-1977); her students at Somerville College included Margaret Thatcher; Vice-President, Medical Aid Committee for Vietnam (1965), President (1971); second woman to be appointed to the Order of Merit (1965); Chancellor, Bristol University (1970-1988); President, International Union of Crystallography (1972-1975); President, Pugwash conferences on Science and World Affairs (1976-1988); President, British Association for the Advancement of Science (1977-1978); died following a stroke. Medals and prizes: Nobel Prize (Chemistry) 1964 Dalton Medal 1976 Lomonosov Gold Medal 1982 Honours: OM 1965 |
Membership category | Fellow |
Date of election | 20/03/1947 |
Age at election | 36 |
Proposer | Kathleen Lonsdale |
William Hume-Rothery |
William Lawrence Bragg |
Francis Simon |
Howard Walter Florey |
John Monteath Robertson |
William Thomas Astbury |
Ian Morris Heilbron |
John Desmnd Bernal |
Royal Society activity | Medals and prizes: Royal Medal 1956; Copley Medal 1976 Lectures: Tercentenary 1960; Bakerian 1972 |
Relationships | Parents: John Winter Crowfoot (1873–1958), inspector with the ministry of public instruction for Egypt and the Sudan, later director of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, and Grace Mary (Molly) Hood (1877–1957), authority on ancient textiles. Spouse: (1937) Thomas Lionel Hodgkin (died 1982). Children: Luke Howard (born 1938), Prudence Elizabeth (born 1943), John Robin Tobias (born 1946). |
Published works | RCN 44501 RCN 13840 RCN 44502 RCN R79761 RCN 10147 RCN 14635 |
General context | Determined the structure of insulin, establishing the general form and the leading inter-atomic distances in crystalline insulin. Studied sterols and proteins, advancing knowledge on the stereo-chemical structure of the sterol skeleton, and in proteins she carried out work on virus structures. Demonstrated it is possible to derive the complete structure of organic substances of unknown chemical composition by X-ray methods alone. Mapped the structure of cobalamin (vitamin B12). Confirmed the structure of penicillin, previously surmised by Edward Abraham and Ernst Boris Chain. Became the third woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. A privately commissioned portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin, by Bryan Organ, became part of the collection of the Royal Society in 1982, making it the first portrait of a woman to be included in the Society's collection. The Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship is awarded by the Royal Society "for outstanding scientists at an early stage of their research career who require a flexible working pattern due to personal circumstances, such as parenting or caring responsibilities or health-related reasons." |
Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
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Sources | AssocMaterial: NCUACS 47/3/94 and 135/8/04. Papers and correspondence deposited in the Bodleian Library, Oxford Obituaries: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2002 vol 48 pp 179-219, plate, by G Dodson FRS References: Sir John Cornforth, 'Portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin, OM, FRS' in NR 1982-83 vol 37 pp 1-4, plate Joan Mason, 'The Women Fellows' Jubilee' in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 125-140 S Ramaseshan, 'Dorothy Hodgkin and the Indian Connection' in NR 1996 vol 50 pp 115-127, plate J Corden, 'Web of Science History' project in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 383-388 D Blow and S Wallwork, 'Prehistory of the British Crystallographic Association' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 177-186 P Harper, 'Preserving scientific archives: the work of NCUACS' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 227-232 |
Royal Society code | NA8241 |
Reference number | Title | Date |
M/261 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | |
HWT/25/6 | Correspondence and papers regarding Chinese research workers in Britain and British visitors to China | August - December 1966 |
HWT/25/7 | Correspondence and papers regarding premature return to China (due to Cultural Revolution) of Chinese research workers in Britain | January - September 1967 |
P/0158 | Portrait of Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | 1980 |
IM/GA/WS/2717 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | nd |
IM/002159 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | November 2003 |
IM/007145 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | July 1984 |
P/0226 | Portrait of Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot | 2005 |
RR/71/232 | Referee's report by Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, on a paper 'An X-ray study of horse methaemoglobin. II' by Max Ferdinand Perutz | 1948 |
RR/61/101 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The crystal structure of insulin. I. The investigation of air-dried insulin crystals' by Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin | December 1937 |
RR/68/447 | Referee's report by John Monteath Robertson, on a paper 'The crystal structure of cholesteryl iodide' by C H Carlisle and Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin | [1944] |
RR/72/170 | Referee's report by Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, on a paper 'The crystal structure of horse met-myoglobin. I. General features: the arrangement of the poly-peptide chains' by John Cowdery Kendrew | 1949 |
IM/002158 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | nd |
EC/1947/13 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
IM/GA/AR/7132 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | nd |
IM/004389 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | 2003 |
IM/007144 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | 1965 |
IM/007143 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | nd |
IM/007146 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | nd |
IM/007142 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | c 1951 |
RR/66/26 | Referee's report by William Henry Bragg, on a paper 'X-Ray crystallography and the chemistry of the steroids. Part I' by John Desmond Bernal, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin and I Fankuchen | [April 1940] |
RR/66/25 | Referee's report by Ian Morris Heilbron, on a paper 'X-Ray crystallography and the chemistry of the steroids. Part I' by John Desmond Bernal, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin and I Fankuchen | 15 May 1940 |
IM/002157 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | nd |
IM/007147 | Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | c 1951 |
P/0152 | Portrait of Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | 1982 |
AP/83/13 | Supporting data, regarding 'The structure of vitamin B12. VIII. The crystal structure of vitamin B12-5'-phosphate' by S W Hawkinson, C L Coulter, Marsha L Greaves and Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin | [1970] |
RR/65/131 | Letter from Archibald Vivian Hill, on an unnamed paper by Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin to the Secretary of the Royal Society | 31 May 1938 |
AP/82/16 | Supporting data, regarding 'The structure of vitamin B12 V. The structure of the air-dried crystals of vitamin B12' by Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, June Lindsey, R A Sparks, K N Trueblood and John Graham White | [1962] |
AP/82/20 | Supporting data, regarding 'The structure of Vitamin B12 VI. The structure of crystals of vitamin B12 grown from and immersed in water' by Clara Brink-Shoemaker, Durward William John Cruickshank, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, M. Jennifer Kamper and Diana Pilling | [1964] |
AP/83/18 | Supporting data, regarding 'The structure of vitamin B12. IX. The crystal structure of cobyric acid, factor V 1a' by K Venkatesan, D Dale, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, C E Nockolds, F H Moore and B H O’Connor | [1971] |
RR/75/63 | Referee's report by Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, on a paper 'Crystallite growth in graphitising and non-graphitising carbons' by Rosalind E Franklin | 12 April 1951 |
RR/77/143 | Referee's report by Dorothy Hodgkin, on a paper 'The configuration of the polypeptide chain in small peptides such as Gramicidin S' by N B Abbott and E J Ambrose | 26 August 1952 |
P/0159 | Drawing, hands of Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot | 1978 |
RR/79/151 | Referee's report by Dorothy Hodgkin, on a paper 'The crystal and molecular structure of perylene' by D M Donaldson, John Monteath Robertson and John G White | 16 July 1953 |
RR/79/150 | Referee's report by Dorothy Hodgkin, on a paper 'The crystal and molecular structure of ovalene. A quantitative X-ray investigation' by D M Donaldson and John Monteath Robertson | 16 July 1953 |
RR/79/230 | Referee's report by Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, on a paper 'The complementary structure of deoxyribonucleic acid' by Francis Harry Compton Crick and James Dewey Watson | 14 September 1953 |
RR/77/142 | Letter from Dorothy Hodgkin, on a paper 'The configuration of the polypeptide chain in small peptides such as Gramicidin S' by N B Abbott and E J Ambrose, to D C Martin | 26 August 1952 |
RR/75/62 | Letter from Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, on a paper 'Crystallite growth in graphitising and non-graphitising carbons' by Rosalind E Franklin, to D C Martin | 12 April 1951 |
ROR/5/2/6 | Recording of Robert Robinson and Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin | 1974 |