A Pioneer of Modern Medicine
Janet Vaughan becomes Somerville’s 6th Principal. A haemotologist who helped pioneer the techniques of blood donation and storage, Vaughan was recently returned from supporting the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where her insights on starvation significantly improved the strategy to feed survivors. Vaughan's tenure saw an increase in the admission of students studying science and medicine.
A Giant of British Philosophy
Somerville elects philosopher G.E.M. Anscombe to a Research Fellowship. Following election to Fellow, Anscombe remains at Somerville until her election to a Professorship in Philosophy at Cambridge in 1970. A lifelong friend of Wittgenstein, Anscombe brings him into Somerville’s SCR (Senior Common Room), where she can often be found discussing philosophical problems with Philippa Foot.
Dawning of a New Era
Plans begin for development on Little Clarendon Street, resulting in the construction of three pioneering Brutalist buildings – Margery Fry, Vaughan and Wolfson. These allow the college to continue increasing its numbers of graduate students and international students.
Women's Colleges Recognised
Somerville and the other women’s colleges finally receive the ‘full status’ previously granted only to men’s colleges.
A Nobel for Crystallography
Somervillian Dorothy Hodgkin is awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for her work in cyrstallography. She is the first (and, so far, only) British woman to win a Nobel Prize for science. Hodgkin uses part of her prize money to establish Somerville’s on-site nursery.