Google has celebrated the 104th anniversary of Dorothy Hodgkin’s birth with a ‘Google doodle’, the illustration that appears on the search home page of the world’s most visited website.
Newspapers including the Guardian and Independent ran stories on Google’s choice, the Guardian noting that Dorothy Hodgkin remains “the only British woman to have ever won one of the Science Nobels”. Maggi Hambling’s portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.
The College remains extremely proud of Dorothy Hodgkin’s work, and various events are taking place this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of her Nobel Prize for Chemistry. These also coincide with the UNESCO International Year of Crystallography. Somerville hosted the annual Dorothy Hodgkin Memorial Lecture in March. Recent speakers at the lecture have included Professor Susan Lea and Dame Carol Robinson.
Earlier this month, the College also welcomed alumni and their guests for the Bodleian screening of a play about her life, written by her biographer Georgina Ferry. An article about Hodgkin’s work, also by Ferry, featured in this year’s edition of the Somerville Magazine. (The 2014 edition was subtitled ‘The Science Issue’.)
On 29th October, Somerville will host a final event to honour Dorothy Hodgkin’s important work by raising awareness about crystallography and its significant impact on current scientific research. The key speaker at this event will be Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, himself a Nobel laureate for his work in crystallography.
The College is also committed to creating a lasting legacy for Dorothy Hodgkin at Somerville by raising funds to support continued teaching and research.