View source for Biography:Alan Lloyd Hodgkin

{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name        = Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|OM|KBE|PRS|size=100%}}
| image       = Alan Lloyd Hodgkin nobel.jpg
| image_size  =  
| caption     = 
| birth_name  = 
| birth_place = Banbury, Oxfordshire, England, UK
| death_date  = {{death date and age|df=yes|1998|12|20|1914|02|05}}
| death_place = Cambridge, England, UK
| nationality = English
| citizenship = British
| alma_mater  = Trinity College, Cambridge
| spouse      = Marion Rous
| children    = Sarah, Deborah, Jonathan, and Rachel
| prizes      = {{no wrap|Royal Medal {{small|(1958)}}<br>Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine {{small|(1963)}}<br>[[Physics:Copley Medal|Copley Medal]] {{small|(1965)}}}}
| field       = [[Biology:Physiology|Physiology]] and [[Physics:Biophysics|Biophysics]]}}

'''Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|OM|KBE|PRS}}<ref name="frs">{{cite journal|last=Huxley|first=S. A.|title=Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, O.M., K.B.E. 5 February 1914 – 20 December 1998: Elected F.R.S. 1948|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|year=2000|volume=46|issue=0|pages=219–241|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1999.0081}}</ref> (5 February 1914 – 20 December 1998) was an English [[Biology:Physiology|physiologist]] and [[Physics:Biophysics|biophysicist]], who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with [[Biography:Andrew Huxley|Andrew Huxley]] and [[Biography:John Eccles (neurophysiologist)|John Eccles]].

==Early life==

Hodgkin was born in Banbury, Oxfordshire, to George Hodgkin and Mary Wilson Hodgkin. His father died of dysentery in [[Place:Baghdad|Baghdad]] in 1918. His mother was remarried to Lionel Smith, with whom they lived. He was educated at The Downs School near Malvern, Gresham's School, and Trinity College, Cambridge.<ref>Benson, S. G. G., Crossley Evans, Martin, ''I Will Plant Me a Tree: an Illustrated History of Gresham's School'' (James & James, London, 2002) {{ISBN|0-907383-92-0}}</ref> In 1930, he was the winner of a bronze medal in the Public Schools Essay Competition organised by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.<ref>''Protection of Birds Measures Urged By Royal Society'' in ''The Times'', Saturday, 29 March 1930; pg. 14; Issue 45474; col C</ref>

==Career==

During the Second World War, he volunteered on Aviation Medicine at Farnborough and was subsequently transferred to the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) where he worked on the development of centimetric [[Engineering:Radar|radar]], including the design of the [[Engineering:Automatic Gun-Laying Turret|Village Inn]] AGLT airborne gun-laying system. Earlier, in March 1941, Hodgkin had flown on the test flight of a Bristol Blenheim fitted with the first airborne centimetric radar system. As the war ended in 1945, he joined the faculty of physiology department in Cambridge University. He was the Foulerton Professor of the Royal Society between 1951 and 1969. He served on the Royal Society Council from 1958 to 1960 and on the Medical Research Council from 1959 to 1963. He was foreign secretary of the Physiological Society from 1961 to 1967. He was appointed the John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Biophysics at Cambridge University in 1970. He also held additional administrative posts such as Chancellor, [[Organization:University of Leicester|University of Leicester]], from 1971 to 1984, and Master, Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1978 to 1985.

==Achievements==

With Andrew Fielding Huxley, Hodgkin worked on experimental measurements and developed an [[Biology:Hodgkin–Huxley model|action potential theory]] representing one of the earliest applications of a technique of [[Biology:Electrophysiology|electrophysiology]], known as the "[[Biology:Voltage clamp|voltage clamp]]". The second critical element of their research was the use of the [[Biology:Squid giant axon|giant axon]] of the [[Biology:Loligo forbesii|veined squid]] (''Loligo forbesii''),<ref name=hodgkin52>{{cite journal|last1=Hodgkin|first1=AL|last2=Huxley|first2=AF|last3=Katz|first3=B|title=Measurement of current-voltage relations in the membrane of the giant axon of ''Loligo''|journal=The Journal of Physiology|year=1952|volume=116|issue=4|pages=424–48|pmid=14946712|url=http://jp.physoc.org/content/116/4/424.full.pdf+html?ijkey=279b646a71339ce37f9961fa93b43503ac7e2c25&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha|pmc=1392219|doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1952.sp004716}}</ref> which enabled them to record ionic currents as they would not have been able to do in almost any other [[Biology:Neuron|neuron]], such cells being too small to study using the techniques of the time. The experiments started at the [[Organization:University of Cambridge|University of Cambridge]], beginning in 1935 with frog sciatic nerve, and soon after they continued their work using squid giant axons at the Marine Biological Association Laboratory in Plymouth. In 1939, reporting work done in Plymouth, Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley published a short paper in the journal ''Nature'' announcing their achievement of recording action potentials from inside a nerve fibre.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1038/144710a0|title=Action Potentials Recorded from Inside a Nerve Fibre|year=1939|last1=Hodgkin|first1=A. L.|last2=Huxley|first2=A. F.|journal=Nature|volume=144|issue=3651|pages=710–711|bibcode = 1939Natur.144..710H }}</ref> Research was interrupted by World War II but after resuming their experimental work in Plymouth, the pair published their theory in 1952 in a series of publications.<ref name=hodgkin52/><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hodgkin|first1=AL|last2=Huxley|first2=AF|title=The dual effect of membrane potential on sodium conductance in the giant axon of ''Loligo''|journal=The Journal of Physiology|date=1952|volume=116|issue=4|pages=497–506|pmid=14946715|pmc=1392212|doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1952.sp004719}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hodgkin|first1=AL|last2=Huxley|first2=AF|title=The components of membrane conductance in the giant axon of ''Loligo''|journal=The Journal of Physiology|year=1952|volume=116|issue=4|pages=473–96|pmid=14946714|url=http://jp.physoc.org/content/116/4/473.long|pmc=1392209|doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1952.sp004718}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hodgkin|first1=AL|last2=Huxley|first2=AF|title=A quantitative description of membrane current and its application to conduction and excitation in nerve|journal=The Journal of Physiology|year=1952|volume=117|issue=4|pages=500–44|pmid=12991237|pmc=1392413|doi=10.1113/jphysiol.1952.sp004764}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hodgkin|first1=AL|last2=Huxley|first2=AF|title=Propagation of electrical signals along giant nerve fibers|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B|year=1952|volume=140|issue=899|pages=177–83|pmid=13003922|bibcode = 1952RSPSB.140..177H |doi = 10.1098/rspb.1952.0054 }}</ref>

With Huxley, he established the propagation mechanism of nerve impulse called "[[Biology:Action potential|action potential]]s", the electrical impulses which enable the activity of an organism to be coordinated by a [[Biology:Central nervous system|central nervous system]]. In addition Hodgkin and Huxley's findings led them to hypothesize the existence of [[Biology:Ion channel|ion channel]]s on cell membranes, which were confirmed only decades later. Confirmation of ion channels came with the development of the [[Biology:Patch clamp|patch clamp]] leading to a Nobel prize in 1991 for [[Biography:Erwin Neher|Erwin Neher]] and [[Biography:Bert Sakmann|Bert Sakmann]], and in 2003 for [[Biography:Roderick MacKinnon|Roderick MacKinnon]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Schwiening|first=C. J.|title=A brief historical perspective: Hodgkin and Huxley|journal=The Journal of Physiology|year=2012|volume=590|issue=11|pages=2571–2575|doi=10.1113/jphysiol.2012.230458|pmid=22787170|pmc=3424716}}</ref>

Hodgkin was also the discoverer of cell membrane depolarisation sequence now known as the [[Biology:Hodgkin cycle|Hodgkin cycle]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Noble|first=D.|title=Biophysics and systems biology|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences|year=2010|volume=368|issue=1914|pages=1125–1139|doi=10.1098/rsta.2009.0245|pmid=20123750| pmc=3263808 |bibcode = 2010RSPTA.368.1125N }}</ref>

==Publications==

*''The Conduction of the Nervous Impulse'' (1964)
*''Chance and Design: Reminiscences of Science in Peace and War'' (1992)

==Honours==

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, Andrew Fielding Huxley, and John Carew Eccles (for his research on [[Biology:Synapse|synapse]]s) were jointly awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1963|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1963/|website=Nobelprize.org|publisher=Nobel Media AB|accessdate=16 June 2014}}</ref> Hodgkin was knighted (KCB) in 1972 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1973. He was elected President of the [[Organization:Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom|Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom]] in 1966. From 1970 to 1975 he was President of the Royal Society. The Royal Society awarded him its Royal Medal in 1958 and [[Physics:Copley Medal|Copley Medal]] in 1965. He was also elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Philosophical Society, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, Deutsche Akademie, and Indian National Science Academy. A portrait of Hodgkin by Michael Noakes hangs in Trinity College's collection.<ref>{{cite web|title=Trinity College, University of Cambridge|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/located_at/trinity-college-cambridge-5846_locations|archive-url=https://archive.is/20140511164255/http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/located_at/trinity-college-cambridge-5846_locations|dead-url=yes|archive-date=2014-05-11|publisher=BBC Your Paintings}}</ref>

==Personal life==

Alan Hodgkin married Marion Rous in 1944, whom he met while at Rockefeller Institute in 1938. She was the daughter of an American pathologist, [[Biography:Francis Peyton Rous|Francis Peyton Rous]], who won the 1966 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She became Children's Book Editor at Macmillan Publishing Company and a successful writer of children's literature, including ''Young Winter's Tales'' and ''Dead Indeed''. They had three daughters, Sarah, Deborah, and Rachel, and a son Jonathan. Jonathan Hodgkin became a molecular biologist at Cambridge University. Deborah Hodgkin is also a successful psychologist.

Thomas Hodgkin (1798-1866), who first described [[Medicine:Hodgkin's lymphoma|Hodgkin's lymphoma]], was Alan Hodgkin's ancestor.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Saxon|first1=Wolfgang|title=Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, 84, A Nobelist in Nerve Research|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/22/world/sir-alan-lloyd-hodgkin-84-a-nobelist-in-nerve-research.html|accessdate=March 23, 2017|work=New York Times|date=December 22, 1998}}</ref>

===Death===

Alan Hodgkin died in 1998 at Cambridge.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lamb|first=Trevor|title=Obituary: Alan Hodgkin (1914–98)|journal=Nature|year=1999|volume=397|issue=6715|pages=112–112|pmid=9923671|doi=10.1038/16362|bibcode = 1999Natur.397..112L }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Biology:Hodgkin–Huxley model|Hodgkin–Huxley model]]
* [[Organization:University of Cambridge|University of Cambridge]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/index.php?pageid=172 The Master of Trinity] at Trinity College, Cambridge
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20011218032342/http://www.nobel.se/medicine/laureates/1963/hodgkin-bio.html Nobel biography of Hodgkin]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/239286.stm BBC obituary]
*[http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1963/hodgkin-speech.html Speech at Nobel banquet, 1963]
*[http://web.sfn.org/skins/main/pdf/HistoryofNeuroscience/hodgkin1.pdf Action Potential Paper]{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80012991 Imperial War Museum Interview]

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{{succession box| before=The Lord Butler of Saffron Walden|title=Master of Trinity College, Cambridge|years=1978–1984|after=[[Biography:Andrew Huxley|Sir Andrew Huxley]]}}

{{succession box|title=[[Social:Chancellor (education)|Chancellor]] of the [[Organization:University of Leicester|University of Leicester]]|before=The Lord Adrian|after=Sir [[Biography:George Porter|George Porter]]|years=1971–1984}}
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{{Copley Medallists 1951-2000}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Laureates 1951-1975}}
{{Royal Society presidents 1900s}}


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[[Category:Electrophysiologists]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine]]

{{Sourceattribution|Alan Lloyd Hodgkin|1}}