Crowfoot Mrs. Hodgkin

Crowfoot became interested in chemistry at an early age. At age 10, she tried growing crystals of copper(II) sulphate and 

Near the end of her first year at Oxford, Crowfoot attended T. V. Barker s lectures in the Crystallography Department, and Barker became an early mentor of Crowfoot. Both Barker and her Chemistry tutor, F. M. Brewer, encouraged her to undertake X-ray crystallography in her final year. Polly Porter was another influence, as Crowfoot noted in her recollections  

Before that [her decision to stay at Oxford] Polly Porter 

Wishing to broaden her experience in crystallography, Crowfoot accepted an offer to join Bernal s group at Cambridge. There, she studied early preparations of vitamin Bp vitamin D, and several of the sex hormones. Finances were a problem, though, and only a substantial gift of money from her aunt enabled her to survive. 

During her first year at Cambridge, Crowfoot was offered a post as tutor at Somerville. To entice her back to Oxford, the University agreed that she could spend a second year at Cambridge before taking up the position. Taking Bernal s advice, Crowfoot accepted the offer. 

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The change in name upon marriage has always been problematic for academic women. Sharon Bertsch McGrayne remarked the change in name even caused confusion in the case of Dorothy Crowfoot (Mrs. Hodgkin) Dorothy published her penicillin studies under her maiden name Crowfoot and announced vitamin B12 as Hodgkin. Years later some scientists still did not know that the Crowfoot of penicillin fame was the Hodgkin of B12 fame. 5... 

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