Dorothy Hodgkin: A Life

by Georgina Ferry

*Shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Marsh Biography Award*The definitive biography of chemist Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, the only British woman to win a Nobel prize in the sciences to date. Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910–1994) was passionate in her quest to understand the molecules of the living body. She won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1964 for her work on penicillin and Vitamin B12, and her study of insulin made her a pioneer in protein crystallography. Fully engaged with the political and social currents of her time, Hodgkin experienced radical change in women's education, the globalisation of science, relationships between East and West, and international initiatives for peace. Georgina Ferry's definitive biography of Britain's first female Nobel prizewinning scientist was shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize and the Marsh Biography Award. This revised and updated edition includes a new preface from the author.

Genres: Science, Biography, Nonfiction, History, 20th Century

577 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Born in Hong Kong in 1955, Ferry had a peripatetic childhood as one of five children of an army officer. She went to Ellerslie School in Great Malvern from 1966–73, then to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford: she graduated in Experimental Psychology in 1976.

She worked briefly for a science publisher before joining New Scientist magazine as a section editor. Soon afterwards she began to present science programmes on BBC Radio 4.

She married David Long in 1981. They settled in Oxford, and sons Ed and Will were born in 1982 and 1985. Since then she has worked mostly as a freelance writer, editor and broadcaster.

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Google Doodle from 12 May 2014 to celebrate Dorothy Hodgkin's 104th birthday

In the same way that I always find etymology crucial when learning a new language, I need historical context when I study sciences. I always want to know: why was this considered important, and how did we acquire this information? So books like this, which trace the history of a discipline as well as a life, are to me extremely rewarding. I knew nothing about Dorothy Hodgkin before reading this and little about her field of X-ray crystallography, so I learnt a lot here.

A SCIENTIFIC RECAP

Once again I find myself staggered by the extraordinary things we have been able to learn about the world. Chemists have long known that it is important to understand how molecules are put together structurally, even if chemical reactions give you an idea of what kinds of atoms might be involved. But working out the structure is fiendishly difficult, not least because you can't just look for yourself. Atoms are too small to refract visible light – you can't see them no matter how powerful your microscope is.

Early in the twentieth century, it was realised that X-rays had such a small wavelength (on the order of one or two ångstroms) that they could be refracted by individual atoms within a molecule: a wave of X-rays will scatter around an atom as an ocean wave scatters around a lighthouse. By studying the patterns this scattered light leaves on a photographic plate, one can draw certain conclusions about which atoms are present and how they fit together. This was done with diamond and graphite in 1914-6, showing that the arrangement of the carbon atoms was all that differentiated the two substances.

By the time Dorothy Hodgkin came along, this technique had been applied to several simple materials. Her contribution was to make X-ray crystallography a tool of biochemistry – using X-rays to examine the structure of complicated organic molecules. She was not quite the first to do so, but she was certainly the one who spearheaded the work and who had the most conspicuous successes, examining various biological molecules which were exponentially more complicated than graphite. Her first big solve was the structure of cholesterol in 1937; penicillin followed in 1945, and vitamin B12 ten years later. The insanely complex structure of insulin, which she began work on in 1934, was finally solved in 1969.

These were huge, three-dimensional molecules containing exotic new structures (corrins, β-lactam rings) whose existence chemists had not even suspected; finding crystals that gave decent refraction patterns was a process that took years, and poring over the results took years more and required vast stores of chemical and mathematical understanding to interpret.


The structure of penicillin G, solved by Dorothy's team in 1945 but – owing to wartime secrecy – not published until 1949.

Dorothy's chemical knowledge was, indeed, extraordinarily formidable – which sometimes surprised people taken in by her ‘legendarily modest demeanour’. In her laboratory in Oxford (according to a colleague), examining her team-members' work, she was capable

after an apparently casual glance, of gaily pronouncing what the space group [of a crystal] must be, to the consternation (even humiliation) of the young man who had just developed the picture; yet, two or three days later, after the appropriate zero and first layer Weissenberg photographs had been made, dried, indexed and analysed, Dorothy's remark would turn out to have been correct […]. ‘Women's intuition’, it was often said; but really, it was the product of her phenomenal knowledge of relevant chemistry and physics, her long experience, her marvellous memory for detail and her tirelessly active mind.

This was something that impressed every scientist she encountered. Rosalind Franklin, for instance, showed Dorothy some photographs of DNA that she had been working on, and

Dorothy remarked that the photographs were so good that it ought to be possible to derive from them the space group – the set of symmetry relations governing the way the molecules formed a repeating pattern. Franklin eagerly replied that she had already narrowed the possibilities down to three. ‘But Rosalind!’ exclaimed Dorothy, and immediately pointed out that two of these were impossible.

Similarly entertaining demonstrations of her profound, but lightning-fast, understanding recur throughout this biography.

BRITISH WOMAN

The scientific establishment was not slow to express its admiration and, especially after vitamin B12 was solved, honours came thick and fast. She was the first woman to be given the Royal Society's Royal Medal, and the first to get the prestigious Order of Merit since Florence Nightingale in 1907. In 1964 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (the only female British scientist, so far, to have won a Nobel). The papers reported on this pretty much as you'd expect:

‘British woman wins Nobel prize – £18,750 award to mother of three’, announced the Daily Telegraph. In a feature published later in the year, just after the award ceremony, the Observer reported that the ‘affable-looking housewife’ Mrs Hodgkin had won the prize ‘for a thoroughly un-housewifely skill: the structures of crystals of great chemical interest’.

Dorothy herself was very reluctant to be drawn on gender issues, and ‘vehemently rejected any suggestion that her gender was an obstacle to her progress’. As she got more famous, she felt ‘very fed up with being treated as the token woman scientist’ and had a ‘horror of the term “role model”’. Certainly in this book, despite a couple of dubious personal reactions, the story is indeed mostly one of widespread acceptance by her colleagues and support from her superiors.


Dorothy Hodgkin portrait by Maggi Hambling (1985), in the National Portrait Gallery. In the foreground are models of the four molecules of insulin.

Her personal life was relatively quiet, although she was greatly influenced by the Communistic and free-love principles of her first doctoral advisor (and sometime lover) JD Bernal. (She tolerated, for instance, her husband's long-running affair with his childhood sweetheart.) She was passionate about international relations and did an enormous amount to encourage biochemistry in India, China and the USSR, and to welcome the research of these countries in the West. She was politically active on these subjects, too, lobbying for Cold War rapprochement and nuclear disarmament by leaning on one of her former students, Margaret Roberts, who as Margaret Thatcher had since been elected Prime Minister of Britain (and who kept a framed photograph of Dorothy on the wall behind her desk at Downing Street).

Most of all, the field that she brought to maturity has become one of the key tools for chemists and biochemists working today, with X-ray crystallography spawning a string of Nobel prizewinners, all of whom look to Dorothy Hodgkin as perhaps the key figure of their discipline, when, indeed, they were not personally trained by her.

Georgina Ferry tells the story well, and thoroughly. The result is a very readable biography of a hugely important figure in British science – it's a treat.

[Vilhelmiina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comprehensive and well-written biography that made me excited about science (again) ! Took me a while to read as I kept leaving and coming back to it, but a good read nevertheless.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dorothy Hodgkin was an incredible scientist, one of the founders of the field of protein crystallography. Using cutting edge techniques, she discovered the structures of insulin, penicillin, and vitamin B12. She was awarded the Nobel prize for this work and remains the only British women to have received this honor (c'mon, Nobel prize committee, do better!). She also worked hard to create an international community of scientists and her protegees continue to make important discoveries around the world today.

This book started didn't start out well. The author seemed like she was writing a book report and wanted to prove she'd discovered every fact even tangentially related to Dorothy's life. Before getting to Dorothy's birth, we first learned about her grandparents and how they met; her parents and how they met; and her aunts' and uncles' lives.  However, this bothered me less as I got into the story more and their were fewer new characters to introduce. The author did still sometimes go off on tangents, but they were more engaging to me than those at the beginning. The inclusion of primary sources throughout helped. I loved hearing much of the story in Dorothy's own words!

There were also some tangents that I thought were important for giving context to Dorothy's work. I particularly enjoyed learning about the many female scientists Dorothy worked with and about the way different women dealt with the prejudice they faced in academia. Dorothy's political activism was fascinating to read about as well. Despite all these tangents, the author did do justice to Dorothy's scientific achievements. While occasionally I thought a picture would have been helpful, for the most part, the author made her work very accessible. The technical challenges Dorothy had to overcome were explained with enough detail that I could appreciate how impressive her solutions were. And the importance of her work for medicine and for the future of crystallography were always clear.

This is probably not a book I'd recommend to anyone who doesn't read much nonfiction. It's one of the few nonfiction books that I've found guilty of reading a bit like a textbook. However, I genuinely enjoyed reading this book once I got into it and I think nonfiction aficionados interested in this topic will find it well worth a read.
This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey

[Chloe Edges · Rating 3 out of 5]

The combined review of the East Dulwich WI Bookclub as published at www.eastdulwichwi.co.uk.

The book garnered a whole mixture of opinions ranging from “Loved it!” to “Oh My Goodness! It was SO Boring”! Kirsten Ing was certainly the most impressed with the book being a self-declared lover of chemistry. Other members who had managed to finish it, including Chloe and Sue were somewhat put off by the amount of scientific detail included and admitted to skimming large sections. With not much background to what Dorothy’s area of expertise was (X-Ray Crystallography), much of it was lost on members without knowledge of that field of study. Kirsten Peto was probably the member with the largest dislike for the book having actively abandoned it at around 20% (always a tricky decision!). Hannah also made it to 20% but for reasons of limited time rather than an aversion to the content. Margaret who also finished reading the book said that she did enjoy the book and found Dorothy’s life fascinating but did find the read somewhat ‘challenging’.

Almost everyone admitted that they found the amount of information about Dorothy’s personal life lacking. Some felt that although this detail did exist in parts, it was shoehorned around a significant amount of name-checking of fellow scientists and researchers (including her former student; Margaret Roberts better know by her married name of Thatcher!). A section towards the end of the book, which also focused on Dorothy’s international interests, did include a little more information, including some shocking revelations about her husband Thomas. This left Chloe and Sue in particular wanting to know more. Margaret also wanted to have learnt more about her life living with crippling arthritis. Whilst her condition was referenced and it was noted that she didn’t appear to let it hold her back, it did again feel as though an opportunity to explore this aspect of her life was missed. It was however agreed that from the information that was presented, Dorothy did appear to be a kind woman with a ‘soft’ personality. Her insistence on ensuring that her colleagues, assistants and collaborators were all fairly credited for their work was, and perhaps still is, unusual in the scientific community. Saying this, Margaret commented that despite the overall feeling of her kind personality, the book failed to present much of her emotional state and Sue agreed that despite having read her biography, we still did not really know much about Dorothy the ‘person’. Certainly not as much as we all now know about Dorothy the ‘scientist’!

Hannah commented that from the portion that she had read, the book felt well written, especially considering that the author; Georgina Ferry, is a scientific writer and journalist rather than an experienced biographer or novelist. Chloe somewhat disagreed as whilst she felt that although the writing style itself didn’t grate or stand out to her as poor, she felt that the structure of the book could have been better considered. Whilst it was largely written in a chronological style, some sections such as the last few chapters felt like a different book.

It was noted that Dorothy had herself said that she hated the idea of anyone writing a biography of her life. She did start writing an autobiography but it remained only part complete by the time of her death. The book was compiled with the help of the notes for that project, her life’s copious correspondence (the majority of which she luckily hoarded) and the help of her daughter. It was felt by some that this could be the reason that the book was a little disparate with regards to the facts of her personal life and feelings.

Discussions largely continued to revolve around topics raised in the book such as Dorothy’s predominantly absentee parents who still clearly shaped her life, ambitions and assumption that she could go as far as she wished with her career despite her gender and the expectations and norms of society of the time. Kirsten Ing found her story to be inspiring in the face of the barriers face by Dorothy because of her gender although Chloe noted with interest that Dorothy herself was reported to have repeatedly stated throughout her life that she did not believe that she had ever encountered any obstacles as a result of being a woman. Indeed she continued her illustrious career right through her childbearing years with seemingly very little impact. This led to further discussion about her class, her privilege and whether she would have encountered more obstacles had domestic help and childcare not been so abundant and affordable, especially as she was effectively a single parent family for large periods of time. This then led to a further discussion of absentee parents and how unusual or otherwise that would have been in the time.

Whilst opinion was divided to some extent, the median feeling was that the book was a tedious to read due to the large portions of scientific content and politics of her research, but that Dorothy Hogkins’ life was clearly fascinating; if only we had had the opportunity to read a bit more about it. The book is certainly worth a read to find out more about her achievements but is best approached with the knowledge that some sections may a little intense on the science front.

To find out more about Dorothy Hodgkin’s life, this BBC Radio 4 series based on her personal correspondence may be worth a listen.

5.25 Out of 10

[Brok3n · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly delightful person

I picked up this book because I had just read Bonnie Garmus' novel Lessons in Chemistry, about fictional chemist Elizabeth Zott and the difficulties she faces as a woman and a chemist in the late 1950s. Because I have read other books by and about female scientists, I suspected that the picture presented in Lessons in Chemistry was not accurate. (To be completely clear -- women in science did and still do face obstacles and unfairness -- anyone who denies it is ignorant or attempting to deceive. But Garmus gets most of it wrong.)

Dorothy Hodgkin was the sole recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1964. In Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, Georgina Ferry writes that Dorothy herself had little patience with the idea that she was disadvantaged as a woman.

She vehemently rejected any suggestion that her gender was an obstacle to her progress. For the most part her life story bears this out, and I have tried to show what factors enabled her not only to achieve, but to be recognized for her achievements, at a time when women were not generally expected to have careers.

(By the way, Dorothy insisted on being called "Dorothy" by everyone she met. Ferry thus calls her simply "Dorothy" throughout Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, and I will do the same in this review.)

There is a balancing act going on here. Both Dorothy and Ferry are clearly aware of the disadvantages under which women in science labored. Dorothy herself went to bat for her women students on multiple occasions. Ferry is careful to lay out the facts of overt discrimination -- for instance, the stupid rules that governed women at Oxford, which Dorothy had to struggle with. Even after winning the Nobel Prize, Dorothy had no official status at Oxford, and this certainly was not unrelated to her gender.

But that is not really the best reason to read Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin. You should read it because Dorothy is a thoroughly delightful person -- fearsomely intelligent and determined, yet the soul of modesty and kindness. If Dorothy suffered little disadvantage because of her gender, it is because she was so incredibly good at what she did. At the time of her receipt of the Nobel Prize she was almost certainly the World's greatest crystallographer. (Also, perhaps in part because of Dorothy, crystallography became something of a haven for women in science.)

What is crystallography? You would naturally guess that it is the study of crystals, and you would not be wrong. However, thanks in large part to Dorothy and her first mentor, JD Bernal, it was recognized in the 20th century that by studying the diffraction of X-rays from crystals, one could determine the three-dimensional structure of the molecules of which the crystal was made. Working with Bernal Dorothy solved the structures of several steroid molecules. Then, when on her own, she worked out the structures of Vitamin B12 and insulin, as well as many other molecules. By the 1960s her group had probably solved more structures than anyone else on Earth.

The first problem a reader faces with Ferry's biography is that crystallography is a highly technical subject, and I fear readers who don't already understand it might have trouble following Dorothy's life story. (If you want to learn more about crystallography, Gale Rhodes' Crystallography Made Crystal Clear is a very readable introduction, full of pictures.) Ferry, strangely, includes few pictures. There is one picture of a diffraction pattern from an insulin crystal, but no structures. Making molecular structures known to the world was Dorothy's life for several decades, and it seems peculiar to me that Ferry includes none.

Dorothy's life changed after the receipt of the Nobel Prize. She became less involved in the scientific work of her lab and more in what might be called scientific diplomacy. Dorothy had always been a traveler and welcoming to scientists from all nations. In the last decades of her life she became active in trying to promote world peace, one person at a time. Because she knew and was revered by everyone, from the USA to England to Russia to India to China, she could bring people together. I personally found this part of her story less interesting than the science, but of course to many readers it will be the opposite.

In conclusion, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin is a good book because Dorothy herself was such a fascinating person. Ferry is a competent biographer, and she's telling the story of a very well-documented life.

Blog review.

[Claire S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring look into the world of women in science and crystallography.

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrific biography of a fascinating woman who doesn't get nearly enough credit.

[Kate]

5books.com

[Isabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 estrellas

[marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It may just be me. But personally, I found it hard to read. Maybe it has to do with the fact of it being pretty long—and longer books are much harder to keep my attention.

I won’t be reading it again, but I don’t regret reading it.
Definitely at the very least worth reading at least once.
In my eyes three stars is a solid book. So not at all bad.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This excellent and very readable biography of eminent scientist Dorothy Hodgkin manages to make her come alive as a person and also manages to make the complex science approachable – although my non-scientific brain did struggle quite a lot. (My fault, not the book’s.) At least now I can at least pretend to know a little about crystallography. Hodgkin led an extremely interesting life, both within and without the purely scientific arena, and Georgina Ferry’s detailed and meticulous research has paid off. She writes clearly and succinctly and remains balanced and objective, although her admiration for her subject is obvious. And certainly Hodgkin deserves such admiration, having successfully juggled her scientific career (she received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1964) and the demands of being a wife, mother and mentor to her many students and research assistants (including Margaret Thatcher who remained in awe of Dorothy to the end). An extremely enjoyable and informative biography which hopefully will bring this fascinating and important woman before a wider audience.

[Cece · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biography of Dorothy H. only woman to have won a Nobel Prize who is British (still to date!) geography of Africa, some of Europe other than Great Britian, U.S., China, Russia--mainly London and surrounding area discussed in her adventures of penicillin, insulin and B12 structure determination and family life

[Pam Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book about the British Scientist Dorothy Hodgkin winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in the field of penicillin, VB12 and Insulin, how her name is well known throughout the world, how she gave money to third world scientists and an outstanding woman in her own right. A very educational book and I learned a lot.

[Steve Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable and detailed narrative of a fascinating, thoughtful, and complex person - but for all that, someone you (and I) probably would have loved to meet. It was hard not to compare my lack of achievements to her indomitable thirst for progress, but I console myself with all of the history of science I used to not know that now I do, so painlessly.

[Shelley Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good biography of a fascinating Nobel Prize-winning scientist--and pacifist.

[Elizabeth]

As seen on Science Book a Day: http://sciencebookaday.com/2015/06/30...

[etherealfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Kindle e-book