Dorothy Hodgkin (1910–1994) of
Somerville College, winner of
the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1964
The history of science, medicine, and technology is a long-established discipline in Oxford. R. T. Gunther and Charles Singer were among the pioneers of the subject early in the twentieth century, and since the 1920s the Museum of the History of Science has housed an outstanding collection of scientific instruments and a fine specialist library. In the early 1970s, the creation of the chair of the history of science and the establishment of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine gave the subject additional strength and allowed important new departures.
Hodgkin’s penicillin electron-density map
Oxford now has one of the largest communities of teachers, research fellows, and postgraduate students in these fields in the British Isles. The expertise covers most of the main areas and periods of the history of science, medicine, and technology. A varied programme of seminars, lectures, and conferences enables graduate students to obtain knowledge of subjects beyond their chosen speciality and to meet visitors from elsewhere in Britain and abroad.