Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin: biography and contributions of this chemistry

Dorothy Crowfoot was a British chemist known for studying various three-dimensional biochemical structures using the technique of X-ray crystallography.

Given all the discoveries and contributions she made of it for most of her life, in 1964 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, she being the fifth woman and the first British to win this prize in the field of science. Her investigations never ceased despite the physical affectations derived from the rheumatoid arthritis disease that she suffered, and despite being the mother of three children.

In this Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin Biography We will make mention of the most relevant events in the life of this chemistry, and we will see what were the most relevant contributions of it to the field of science, specifically to biochemistry.

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Short Biography of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin was born on May 12, 1910 in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, when it belonged to the British Empire.

her, although she soon after she moved to London where she would spend her childhood. Daughter of John Winter Crowfoot and Grace Crowfoot both were British archaeologists, she was interested in science from a very young age She was only 10 years old, she entertained herself by carrying out simple experiments in her house and reading various works of literature. she scientist.

Youth and college years

In 1921, at the age of 11, she was enrolled as a student at Sir John Leman Elementary School in the city of She beccles in England, where she studied Chemistry, thus being the only one with another girl who succeeded. At the age of 18, she entered Somerville College, which is part of the University of Oxford, to continue her training in Chemistryher, graduating with honors in 1932 she being the third woman to do so.

After graduating, she set out to choose which subject she would select for her doctorate at Newnham College, which only welcomed women to Cambridge University. She went like this she made up her mind, influenced by the lecture given by John D. Bernal, for the study of X-ray crystallography, used to know the structures of proteins. John D. Bernal was her doctoral tutor, welcoming him into her laboratory.

Bernal, who was an Irish scientist, apart from influencing Crowfoot in the field of science, also did it politically; He was a member of the Communist Party and a defender of the Soviet regime. Dorothy considered him and referred to him as a wise and intelligent man, they even had a loving relationship before she married.

So that she used X-ray crystallography to analyze the biological substance pepsin, a protein synthesized by the stomach that is responsible for digestion by hydrolyzing proteins. She was finally awarded her doctorate in 1937 for her research and thesis on X-ray crystallography and the chemistry of sterols, a type of steroids.

Outside the professional field, In 1934, at just 24 years old, she was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritisher, which caused swelling of the joints of her hands and feet causing great pain and even deformed her limbs over the years.

Despite the difficulties and discomfort caused by the disease, she did not want to modify her work at all and continued with the same research rhythm.

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Consolidation of her career as a researcher

She presented her doctoral thesis of her returned to the University of Oxford, where she was appointed in 1936 the first researcher and professor in Chemistry, staying at this University for the rest of her life.

In 1937 she married Thomas Hodgkin, a historian member of the Communist Party who wrote on politics, and on the history of Africa., thus getting recognized as a professor at Balliol College in Oxford. But she, despite getting married, was reluctant to change her maiden name, and it was not until 12 years after her marriage that She decided, influenced by her secretary, to sign her with the surname of her husband, becoming known since then as Dorothy Crowfoort Hodgkin.

Thomas Hodgkins was the father of her three children: Luke, the eldest who was born in 1938; Elisabeth, her only daughter, who would be born in 1941; and the youngest of all, Toby, born in 1946. During the period of her pregnancies, her affections and discomfort from rheumatoid arthritis decreased, and the same so that her illness did not make her leave the field of scientific research, she would not do it this time the maternity. She believed that continuing with her scientific career was natural and therefore at no time did she consider leaving her.

In 1947 she had the privilege of being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, the oldest scientific society in the United Kingdom and one of the oldest in Europe, Dorothy being the third woman to become a member of this society. Thirteen years later, in 1960, she was appointed Royal Society Research Professor at Wolfson, a position she would hold until 1970.

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Main contributions to science

Crowfoot focused his research and her work on discover and study various three-dimensional biochemical structures that until then organic chemistry had not been able to determine.

In 1937 she worked with cholesterol, a lipid that has a structural function in the plasma membrane. Later, in 1945 she focused on the study of penicillin with the help of collaborators and with the use of the first computers; In this way, with the best knowledge of this antibiotic, she was able to create it in a semisynthetic way and thus avoid the death of many people from infection.

After World War II Crowfoot's laboratory increased her popularity due to the intellectual and personal capacities of chemistry. In this way she attracted the attention of many women, notably Margaret Thatcher, who would become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

In 1953 she was lucky enough to see the well-known and important double helix model of the three-dimensional structure of DNA. which was in Cambridge and which was discovered and raised by the physicist, molecular biologist and neuroscientist Francis Crick.

Given her research with penicillin, she had relationships with professionals in the pharmaceutical industry. So, thanks to your contacts she was able to obtain crystals of vitamin b12, a fundamental vitamin for the proper functioning of the brain, nervous system and blood formation, and various proteins. Dorothy observed that the molecule was made up of cobalt, she saw the possibility of using X-ray crystallography to better understand its structure.

Despite the difficulties involved in this research, since the vitamin b12 molecule is large and she had little information about it, in 1955 she managed to publish the structure after many years of study. For this reason, her work was widely recognized, being valued as the greatest achievement achieved through X-rays in the field of natural chemical products and earning him the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistryher, managing to be the fifth woman and the first British to receive this award in the field of science.

Another important research and work in Crowfoot's career was that of the insulin hormone., very important for the body to obtain energy, since it is the only one that allows glucose to enter the cells. The study of this hormone began in 1934, but it was not until 1969 when they managed to discover the structure of this complex and large molecule.

Despite her complicated health situation, she did not stop investigating, until 1977, when she decided to withdraw from the field of research to engage in traveling, lecturing and participating in peace discussions world.

As we noted previously, Dorothy was associated with followers of communism, such as her husband or her doctoral tutor. In this way she was greatly influenced by this political current, although she never considered herself a communist. If that she showed great concern about social inequalities and possible nuclear war, and for this reason she was appointed in 1976 president of the Pugwash Conference, which lectures on science and world affairs.

Similarly, given her involvement in the humanitarian field, positioning herself against the war, she received the Lenin Peace Prize in 1987 from the Soviet government.

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Last years and death

Apart from the aforementioned awards also received the Copley Medal, awarded by the Royal Society in recognition of her scientific work and her important achievements in this field, or the Lomonosov Medal awarded by the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Also mention that the Royal Society of London put his name to one of their fellowships that awards outstanding young scientists.

After suffering for a long period of time the disease of rheumatoid arthritis, affecting her joints and ending in wheelchair Dorothy Crowfoort died on June 29, 1994 at age 84 in Ilmington, England, as a result of a hemorrhage cerebral.

Since 1999, the Oxford International Festival has held an annual conference in honor of Dorothy's work and research.