Alan Lloyd Hodgkin
Encyclopedia
Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, OM
, KBE
, PRS
(5 February 1914, Banbury
, Oxfordshire
– 20 December 1998 Cambridge
, Cambridgeshire
) was a British
physiologist
and biophysicist
, who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
with Andrew Huxley
and John Eccles
.
, Gresham's School
, and Trinity College, Cambridge
. In 1930, he was the winner of a bronze medal in the Public Schools Essay Competition organized by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
.
Medicine at Farnborough
and was subsequently transferred to the Telecommunications Research Establishment
(TRE) where he worked on the development of centimetric radar
, including the design of the 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.
With Andrew Fielding Huxley, Hodgkin worked on experimental measurements and developed an action potential theory representing one of the earliest applications of a technique of electrophysiology
, known as the "voltage clamp
". The second critical element of their research was the use of the giant axon
of Atlantic squid
(Loligo vulgaris), which enabled them to record ionic currents as they would not have been able to do in almost any other neuron
, such cells being too small to study using the techniques of the time. The experiments started at the 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 . Research was interrupted by World War II
but after resuming their experimental work in Plymouth, the pair published their theory in 1952.
In 1963, with Huxley, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
for their work on the basis of nerve "action potential
s," the electrical impulses which enable the activity of an organism to be coordinated by a central nervous system
. Hodgkin and Huxley shared the prize that year with John Carew Eccles
, who was cited for his research on synapse
s. Hodgkin and Huxley's findings led them to hypothesize ion channel
s, which were confirmed only decades later. Confirmation of ion channels came with the development of the patch clamp
leading to a Nobel prize in 1991 for Erwin Neher
and Bert Sakmann
.
. From 1978 to 1984, Hodgkin was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Creator of the Hodgkin Cycle
.
in 1973. From 1970 to 1975 he was President
of the Royal Society
.
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
, KBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, PRS
President of the Royal Society
The president of the Royal Society is the elected director of the Royal Society of London. After informal meetings at Gresham College, the Royal Society was founded officially on 15 July 1662 for the encouragement of ‘philosophical studies’, by a royal charter which nominated William Brouncker as...
(5 February 1914, Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
– 20 December 1998 Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
physiologist
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
and biophysicist
Biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...
, who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
with Andrew Huxley
Andrew Huxley
Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley, OM, FRS is an English physiologist and biophysicist, who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his experimental and mathematical work with Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin on the basis of nerve action potentials, the electrical impulses that enable the activity...
and John Eccles
John Eccles
John Eccles was an English composer.Born in London, eldest son of professional musician Solomon Eccles, John Eccles was appointed to the King's Private Musick in 1694, and in 1700 became Master of the King's Musick...
.
Early life
Hodgkin was educated at Malvern CollegeMalvern College
Malvern College is a coeducational independent school located on a 250 acre campus near the town centre of Malvern, Worcestershire in England. Founded on 25 January 1865, until 1992, the College was a secondary school for boys aged 13 to 18...
, Gresham's School
Gresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
, and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
. In 1930, he was the winner of a bronze medal in the Public Schools Essay Competition organized by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
Bird Notes and News was first published in April 1903.The title changed to 'Bird Notes' in 1947. In the 1950s, there were four copies per year . Each volume covered two years, spread over three calendar years...
.
Career
During the Second World War, he volunteered to work on AviationAviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
Medicine at Farnborough
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment , was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence , before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.The first site was at Farnborough...
and was subsequently transferred to the Telecommunications Research Establishment
Telecommunications Research Establishment
The Telecommunications Research Establishment was the main United Kingdom research and development organization for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force during World War II and the years that followed. The name was...
(TRE) where he worked on the development of centimetric radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
, including the design of the Village Inn AGLT airborne gun-laying system. Earlier, in March 1941, Hodgkin had flown on the test flight of a Bristol Blenheim
Bristol Blenheim
The Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was adapted as an interim long-range and night fighter, pending the availability of the Beaufighter...
fitted with the first airborne centimetric radar system.
With Andrew Fielding Huxley, Hodgkin worked on experimental measurements and developed an action potential theory representing one of the earliest applications of a technique of electrophysiology
Electrophysiology
Electrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electric current on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins to whole organs like the heart...
, known as the "voltage clamp
Voltage clamp
The voltage clamp is used by electrophysiologists to measure the ion currents across the membrane of excitable cells, such as neurons, while holding the membrane voltage at a set level. Cell membranes of excitable cells contain many different kinds of ion channels, some of which are voltage gated...
". The second critical element of their research was the use of the giant axon
Squid giant axon
The squid giant axon is the very large axon that controls part of the water jet propulsion system in squid. It was discovered by English zoologist and neurophysiologist John Zachary Young in 1936...
of Atlantic squid
Longfin Inshore Squid
The Longfin Inshore Squid is a species of squid of the family Loliginidae. The Longfin Inshore Squid is found in the North Atlantic, schooling in continental shelf and slope waters from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Venezuela...
(Loligo vulgaris), which enabled them to record ionic currents as they would not have been able to do in almost any other neuron
Neuron
A neuron is an electrically excitable cell that processes and transmits information by electrical and chemical signaling. Chemical signaling occurs via synapses, specialized connections with other cells. Neurons connect to each other to form networks. Neurons are the core components of the nervous...
, such cells being too small to study using the techniques of the time. The experiments started at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, beginning in 1935 with frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
sciatic nerve
Sciatic nerve
The sciatic nerve is a large nerve fiber in humans and other animals. It begins in the lower back and runs through the buttock and down the lower limb...
, 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
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
announcing their achievement of recording action potentials from inside a nerve fibre . Research was interrupted by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
but after resuming their experimental work in Plymouth, the pair published their theory in 1952.
In 1963, with Huxley, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
for their work on the basis of nerve "action potential
Action potential
In physiology, an action potential is a short-lasting event in which the electrical membrane potential of a cell rapidly rises and falls, following a consistent trajectory. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, called excitable cells, which include neurons, muscle cells, and...
s," the electrical impulses which enable the activity of an organism to be coordinated by a central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
. Hodgkin and Huxley shared the prize that year with John Carew Eccles
John Carew Eccles
John Carew Eccles, AC FRS FRACP FRSNZ FAAS was an Australian neurophysiologist who won the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the synapse. He shared the prize with Andrew Huxley and Alan Lloyd Hodgkin....
, who was cited for his research on synapse
Synapse
In the nervous system, a synapse is a structure that permits a neuron to pass an electrical or chemical signal to another cell...
s. Hodgkin and Huxley's findings led them to hypothesize ion channel
Ion channel
Ion channels are pore-forming proteins that help establish and control the small voltage gradient across the plasma membrane of cells by allowing the flow of ions down their electrochemical gradient. They are present in the membranes that surround all biological cells...
s, which were confirmed only decades later. Confirmation of ion channels came with the development of the patch clamp
Patch clamp
The patch clamp technique is a laboratory technique in electrophysiology that allows the study of single or multiple ion channels in cells. The technique can be applied to a wide variety of cells, but is especially useful in the study of excitable cells such as neurons, cardiomyocytes, muscle...
leading to a Nobel prize in 1991 for Erwin Neher
Erwin Neher
Erwin Neher is a German biophysicist.Erwin Neher studied physics at the Technical University of Munich from 1963 to 1966. In 1966, He was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the US...
and Bert Sakmann
Bert Sakmann
-External links:*...
.
Other
From 1971 to 1984, Hodgkin was Chancellor of University of LeicesterUniversity of Leicester
The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....
. From 1978 to 1984, Hodgkin was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Creator of the Hodgkin Cycle
Hodgkin Cycle
The Hodgkin cycle represents a positive feedback loop in which an initial membrane depolarization leads to uncontrolled deflection of the membrane potential to near VNa. The initial depolarization must reach or surpass threshold in order to activate voltage-gated Na+ channels. Opening of Na+...
.
Honours
Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was knighted (KBE) in 1972 and appointed to the Order of MeritOrder of Merit
The Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
in 1973. From 1970 to 1975 he was President
President of the Royal Society
The president of the Royal Society is the elected director of the Royal Society of London. After informal meetings at Gresham College, the Royal Society was founded officially on 15 July 1662 for the encouragement of ‘philosophical studies’, by a royal charter which nominated William Brouncker as...
of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
.
External links
- The Master of Trinity at Trinity College, CambridgeTrinity College, CambridgeTrinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
- Nobel biography of Hodgkin
- BBC obituary
- Speech at Nobel banquet, 1963
- Action Potential Paper