In 1937, using x-ray diffraction, Dorothy Hodgkin began her research into the structure of penicillin. By 1945 this had been achieved and she turned her attention to the structure of Vitamin B12. Already rewarded by being one of the first women elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, she was awarded a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1964 for her work. In 1969, she completed what she saw as her greatest discovery, the molecular structure of insulin.
A passionate advocate of disarmament, Dorothy Hodgkin was always willing to use her position as a renowned scientist to further her cause. One famous occasion was when she met with her former student, Margaret Thatcher, to discuss world peace. Her portrait, by the artist Maggie Hambling, hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.
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