Scientist of the day: Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin

Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin

Famous As: Biophysicist & Physiologist

Nationality: British

Birth Date: February 5, 1914

Died At Age: 84

Sun Sign: Aquarius

Born In: Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Father: George Hodgkin

Mother: Mary Wilson

Spouse/Partner: Marion Rous

Children: Sarah, Deborah, Jonathan, Rachel

Died On: December 20, 1998

Place Of Death: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was an English biophysicist and a physiologist who received the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Sir John Eccles and Andrew Fielding Huxley for discovering the chemical processes which controlled the transmission of electrical impulses from one nerve cell in the brain to another though nerve fibers. He and his fellow scientists introduced microelectrodes into the giant nerve fibers of a squid and showed that the electrical potential of a nerve fiber transmitting an impulse is higher than a nerve fiber which remains at rest. This discovery was in contradiction to the earlier hypothesis that nerve membranes break down when an impulse was transmitted. This theory formulated by Hodgkin and Huxley is known as the ‘voltage clamp’. They found that a large amount of potassium ions is concentrated inside a nerve fiber while the solution which surrounds the fibers has a large concentration of sodium ions. They proved with the help of experiments that nerve fibers allow only potassium ions to pass through the membrane when they are at rest while only sodium ions are allowed passage when the fibers are excited. The continuous sequence of depolarization that occurs to the nerve cell membranes discovered by him is known as the ‘Hodgkin Cycle’.

Childhood & Early Life

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England on February 5, 1914 to 

George Hodgkin and Mary Wilson.

When his father died of dysentery in 1918 in Baghdad, his mother re-married Lionel Smith.

 They lived with him thereafter.

He studied at the ‘The Downs School, Malvern’ from 1923 to 1927 and later at the

 ‘Gresham’s School, Holt’ from 1927 to 1932.

He joined the Trinity College affiliated to the Cambridge University in 1932 and studied there

 till 1936.

Major Works

• Sir Alan Hodgkin’s writings include the book titled ‘Conduction of the Nervous Impulse’
  
• which was published in 1964.
• He published his autobiography titled ‘Chance and Design: Reminiscences of Science in
  
• Peace and War’ in 1992.

Awards & Achievements

• Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was awarded the ‘Royal Medal of the Royal Society’ in 1958.
  
• He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1963.
  
• He was made a ‘Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences’ in 1964.
  
• He received the ‘Copley Medal of the Royal Society’ in 1965.
  
• He was made a ‘Knight of the British Empire’ and received his knighthood in 1972
  
• He was also awarded the ‘Order of Merit’ in 1973.

Personal Life and Legacy

• While working at the Rockfeller Institute, he met Marion Rous, daughter of the
  
• famous pathologist Peyton Rous, and married her in 1944.
• 
  
• He had a son, Jonathan, after two daughters, Sarah and Deborah, and then the
  
• youngest daughter, Rachel, from this marriage.
• Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin died in Cambridge, England on December 20, 1998.

Scientist of the day : Dr. Janet Elizabeth Lane-Claypon

Dr. Janet Elizabeth Lane-Claypon was an English physician who was as one of the founders of epidemiology and was also a pioneer in the use of cohort as well as case-control studies. Educated primarily at home until she entered University College at the age of twenty-two, she went on to earn both PhD and MD within a short span of time. This made her an early example of the ‘Doctor-doctor’ phenomenon. Later, she began her career in research, working first on the bacteriology and biochemistry of milk and subsequently on the effect of the ‘Poor Law’ on the children. By working with two cohorts of babies, she established that breast-fed babies gained weight faster than babies fed with cow’s milk. Moreover, the work enabled her to refute the general belief that heating destroys the nutritious value of milk. Subsequently, she began to advocate reforms in child care, midwifery training and parental services. Later, she moved to the field of epidemiologic research, dealing mainly with the cancer of the breast and developed the ‘case-control study.’ She also researched on cancers of uterus, lip, tongue and skin. In addition to that, she had thirty-two publications to her name

Childhood & Early Life

• Janet Elizabeth Lane-Claypon was born on 3 February 1877 in Boston, Lincolnshire, UK.
•  Her father, William Ward Lane-Claypon was a wealthy banker and a magistrate. Her mother was Edith Stow Lane-Claypon.

Major Works:

Janet Lane Claypon is best remembered for her 1926 publication, ‘A Further Report on the Cancer of the Breast with Special Reference to Its Associated Antecedents’. Today, it is considered to be the first case‐control study, containing the first published epidemiologic questionnaire.

Personal Life & Legacy:

• In 1929, Janet Lane-Claypon married Sir Edward Rudolph Forber after a long period of 
• courtship. As was the practice in those times, she left her successful career soon after her wedding and settled in Seaford, Sussex, with her husband. Her last paper was published in her married name.
• At Seaford, she lived for several years, leading a quiet domestic life. She died there on 
• 17 July 1967, at the age 90.