1914-1998

English Biophysicist and Physiologist

Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was an English biophysicist and physiologist who was awarded the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Huxley (1917- ) for their pioneering research in the electrical and chemical events involved with nerve cell impulses. They shared their prize with Sir John Eccles (1903-1997). Their use of the "squid giant axon" to explain nerve behavior provided needed information that demonstrated the precise inner workings of nerve cells. He was knighted for his scientific efforts in 1972.

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin. (The Library of Congress. Reproduced by permission.)

Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin was born on February 5, 1914, in Oxfordshire, England. He attended Trinity College in Cambridge (1932-1936). While at Trinity College, Hodgkin contemplated studying history because of family tradition, but because of his passion for science, he chose to concentrate on biology and chemistry instead. When he...