Article ID: CBB350088485

Two Nobel laureates in conversation: Robert Robinson listens to Dorothy Hodgkin's account of her life scientific (2021)

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In 1974 the Nobel laureate Sir Robert Robinson OM PRS (1886–1975) was gathering information for the memoirs he was writing. As part of his research, he recorded a conversation with his former student, fellow Nobel laureate Professor Dorothy Hodgkin OM FRS (1910–1994), during which she outlined the key stages of her career. She explained the principles underlying crystallography and described her work on the structure of biological molecules including penicillin and vitamin B12—for which she received the Nobel Prize—and on insulin. This paper includes a verbatim transcript of the conversation, which reveals the key figures in Hodgkin's career and the technical breakthroughs which underlay the elucidation of the structure of very large complex molecules. The paper includes a commentary on the value of oral accounts and concludes on the issues raised and not raised during the conversation. Sir Robert was President of the Royal Society between 1945 and 1950 when women were first elected Fellows. Hodgkin was elected in 1947. However, no mention is made of the challenges facing women developing a scientific career in the first half of the twentieth century.

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Authors & Contributors
Bonolis, Luisa
Cameron, Claire E.
Castro, Selma Munhoz Sanches de
Cenadelli, Davide
Chen, Chongbin
Comfort, Nathaniel C.
Journals
European Physical Journal H
Chinese Journal for the History of Science and Technology
Arbor: Ciencia, Pensamiento y Cultura
Centaurus: International Magazine of the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology
Engineering Studies
História, Ciências, Saúde---Manguinhos
Publishers
Oxford University Press
University of Southampton (United Kingdom)
University of Wales, Bangor (United Kingdom
Dongfang chubanshe
International Maritime Economic History Association
Concepts
Oral history
Interviews
History of science, as a discipline
Public health
Medicine and society
Historical method
People
Leontovich, Mikhail Aleksandrovich
McClintock, Barbara
Sagdeev, Roald Z.
Wei, Xincheng
Sherrington, Charles Scott
Palmer, Daniel David
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, late
21st century
19th century
20th century, early
Places
China
Great Britain
United States
East Germany
Rome (Italy)
Russia
Institutions
Chinese Academy of Sciences
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