Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was a chemist who introduced the importance of X-ray crystallography to science, developing many of the world’s most crucial medicines. Hodgkin solved the structures of vitamin B-12, penicillin, and synthetic insulin, yet she remains an unfamiliar name, discrediting her revolutionary research.
Hodgkin was awarded the Royal Medal in 1956, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964, the Copley Medal in 1976, and the Lomonosov Gold Medal in 1982 during her time as a scientist. She was also inducted into the Royal Society while visibly pregnant–while also being one of only three women to ever be inducted at the time–a highly prestigious organization that includes some of the most famous scientists around the world. Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Alan Turing, and Stephen Hawking all belong to the Royal Society, showing its eminence and honor.
Born on May 12, 1910 in Cairo, Egypt to Molly Crowfoot and John Winter Crowfoot, Hodgkin had a hobby in crystals. Not only did she like to collect them, but she enjoyed determining their shapes and physical qualities. She spent much of her youth traveling between Africa and Europe, but once World War I hit, she was eventually permanently relocated to Europe where she conducted her studies. She went to college at Oxford University in 1928 and Cambridge University in 1932. She took a lesson from crystallographer J.D. Bernal as a student and eventually partnered with him to do lab work.
Hodgkin married Thomas Lionel Hodgkin in college. They bonded over their leftist and communist political views. Thomas Hodgkin was a member of the Palestine Civil Service but disagreed with the idea of imperialism, so he stepped down. As activists, the Hodgkins’ spoke for racial equality and world peace, delaying Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin from getting a visa to the United States for over three decades.
Another struggle she encountered included her early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, also known as R.A. Shortly after the birth of her first child, Hodgkin was seen by a doctor in London in 1934. The chronic R.A. caused her immune system to attack its own tissues. It spreads inflammation to her joints and skin, eyes, lungs, heart, and blood vessels, making her wheelchair bound not long after her diagnosis.
This was somewhat of an asset to her studies. Due to her inability to travel from Europe to the U.S. and impaired mobility, she persevered and continued X-ray crystallography. In short, this process includes passing rays through a crystal-shaped structure, highlighting the shape and 3D composition of the miniscule atom. Then, once the shape is examined and written down, calculation must take place.
Extensive laboratory work such as deciphering X-ray diffraction images, mathematics, and analysis take place after the procedure. This is where Hodgkin turned a hobby into a true game-changer in the world of medicine. Using crystallography, she solved the structures of vitamin B-12, penicillin, and synthetic insulin. This greatly furthered research in diabetes and creation of a plethora of new antibiotics such as cephalosporin, amoxicillin, and methicillin.
These studies were the framework of modernized mass drug manufacturing. Penicillin and synthetic insulin was able to be created and accessible to hospitals and doctors, and then of course patients. Meaning that patients, such as those who were infected by diseases in World War II, were able to receive penicillin.
Synthetic insulin was much more attainable and glycemic control was much safer and less painful. At this point in time, pigs and cows were the source of insulin. With the help of Hodgkin’s discovery, the animal cruelty side of diabetes control in medicine was eliminated, and, like penicillin, made it accessible on a greater scale.
Hodgkin was truly undeterred by every challenge she faced despite being wheelchair-bound, suffering from R.A., constant feelings of pain and weakness, unable to attain a visa, and disliked by much of Europe. She was inducted into the Royal Society in 1938, earned the Royal Medal in 1956, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964, the Copley Medal in 1976, and the Lomonosov Gold Medal in 1982.
Her contribution to science is often overlooked, but her research remains the blueprint that kickstarted mass production of important modern day medicines.