Dorothy Hodgkin

Don't be afraid to challenge established ideas if the evidence supports it.

I have been trying to get a three-dimensional picture of the molecule of insulin for the last 34 years.

The detailed geometry of the insulin molecule has proved of fascinating interest.

I think one is probably always to some extent the slave of one's early environment.

I was brought up to believe that the only thing worth doing was to add to the sum of accurate information in the world.

The atoms are very beautiful really, and to see them in relationship to one another is a wonderful thing.

I am occasionally asked, 'What use is your work?' I find this a very difficult question to answer.

The insulin structure is a great deal more complicated than I expected it to be.

One's children, I think, are the most important thing in one's life.

The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you're learning you're not old.

I am a person of faith, and I believe that my work is a way of understanding God's creation.

The solving of a crystal structure is a series of struggles against apparently impossible odds.

I feel sometimes that I have become a kind of elder stateswoman for women in science.

The structure of penicillin was a great challenge. We worked on it through the war.

I have a feeling that if one really wants to do something, one can always find a way.

Crystallography is a branch of science that calls for a great deal of patience.

The most remarkable feature of vitamin B12 is the presence of cobalt.

I owe a great debt to my parents, who always encouraged my curiosity.

The beauty of a crystal lies not just in its external form but in the internal arrangement of its atoms.

Science is not a matter of cold facts; it is a matter of passionate involvement with the natural world.