![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.hmdt.org.uk\/hmdtmusic\/stemsisters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2020\/11\/Dorothy_Hodgkin_01.png\")
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Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin was born on 12 May 1910 in Cairo, Egypt. She died of a stroke aged 84, in Warwickshire.<\/p>\n
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Fun facts about her life<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n <\/div><\/div>\n <\/p>\n She advanced the ability of x-ray crystallography to enable scientists to see the structures of biomolecules \u2013 it allowed scientists to see how molecules behave and how they can be altered. Among her most important and influential discoveries was the confirmation of the structure of penicillin, the structure of vitamin B12 and after 35 years work, alongside a team of international scientists, she unlocked the structure of insulin to help diabetes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a child Dorothy lived with her grandparents in Sussex while her parents worked abroad. Her mother was a botanist and encouraged Dorothy\u2019s interest in the sciences, presenting her with a 16th birthday present book on X-Ray Crystallography which helped her decide her future. She hoped to study at Oxford University, but you had to know Latin to get in, so her Headteacher taught her enough to pass the exam. She gained a degree at Somerville College, Oxford before studying for her PHD at Newnham College, Cambridge.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In 1934 at the age of 24, Dorothy was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, which causes crippling pain in the joints and confined her to a wheelchair in later life. She did not however, let it get in the way of continuing her scientific work.<\/p>\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n
What\u2019s important about her scientific work?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nWhat do we know about her childhood?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/span><\/span>Dorothy Hodgkin Chemist with microscope<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/span><\/span>Dorothy Hodgkin Nobel<\/span><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/h3>\n
What struggles did she face?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/div><\/p>\nWhat did she achieve?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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