VPW: Leadership, Gender, and Collaboration in Science: Dorothy C. Hodgkin (1910-94) and the Oxford School of Biomolecular Crystallography

这项研究探索了牛津大学双分子结晶学研究学院崛起的两个阶段，这是国际上唯一一所由女性领导的研究学院，也是唯一一所包括临界数量女性成员的此类学校。在化学领域唯一的诺贝尔奖获得者多萝西·C·霍奇金(Dorothy C.Hodgkin，1910-1994)的领导下(1964)，这所研究学院因成功地解决了一系列结构日益复杂的生物化合物的结构而脱颖而出，这些化合物包括20世纪30年代末的甾醇(性激素)、40年代的青霉素(治疗传染病的神奇药物，尤其是在二战中)、50年代的维生素B-12(预防恶性贫血所需的因子)和60年代的胰岛素(调节糖代谢的激素)。该项目侧重于青霉素(1940年代)和维生素B-12(1950年代)结构工作中分子和社会复杂性之间的关系，在这两个阶段中，妇女是研究小组的关键成员。首先，该项目探讨了这所研究学校的性别层面，同时侧重于：(A)在一所由女性领导的研究学校招聘和留住男女成员的问题，当时坚持从事科学研究的女性很少，更不用说担任权威职位的女性了；(B)女性成员在学校内外的职业模式，她们在学校里都有杰出的榜样和“关键群体”。该项目的这一部分可以为制定促进21世纪科学中的性别平等的科学政策议程提供重要的历史教训。其次，该项目阐明了跨性别合作的社会过程和从“小”生物分子的X射线结晶学向大分子(蛋白质和DNA)的转变所涉及的科学成果，这一转变对于我们理解20世纪生物学中的分子革命至关重要。互动活动包括：在一个学期教授关于“分子生物学和生物技术的历史和社会含义”的新的研究研讨会；在另一个学期教授关于“科学界妇女历史的新方向”的新本科课程，以及举办关于“科学界妇女的科学政策或社会政策：从历史案例研究到21世纪议程”的讲习班。

This research explores two phases in the rise of the research school of bimolecular crystallography at Oxford, the only research school in international renown led by a woman, and the only such school to include a critical mass of women members. Led by Dorothy C. Hodgkin (1910-1994), a sole Nobelist in chemistry (1964), this research school distinguished itself by successfully solving the structure of a series of biological compounds of increasing structural complexity, including the sterol (sex hormones) in the late 1930s; penicillin (the miracle drug for infectious diseases, especially in WW2) in the 1940s; vitamin B-12 (the factor needed to prevent pernicious anemia) in the 1950s; and insulin (the hormone regulating sugar metabolism) in the 1960s. This project focuses on the relationship between molecular and social complexity in the work on the structure of penicillin (1940s) and vitamin B-12 (the 1950s), phases in which women were key members of the research teams. First, the project explores the gender dimensions of this research school, while focusing on: a) the recruitment and retaining of members of both sexes in a research school led by a woman, at a time very few women persisted in science, let alone in positions of authority; b) the career patterns of the women members, in and out of a school in which they both had a distinguished role model and a "critical mass". this part of the project can offer important historical lessons for framing a science policy agenda to foster gender equality in 21st Century science. Second, the project clarifies the social processes of cross-gender collaboration and the scientific outcomes involved in the transition from the X-ray crystallography of "small" biological molecules to that of large macromolecule (proteins and DNA), a transition crucial for our understanding of the molecular revolution in 20th Century biology. Interactive activities include: teaching a new research seminar on "History and social implic ations of molecular biology and biotechnology" for one term; teaching a new undergraduate course on "New direction in the history of women in science" for another term, and organizing a workshop on "Science policy or social policy for women in science: From historical case-studies to an agenda for the 21st Century".