Stuff You Missed in History Class

Charles Goodyear's work is important to so many things we have in the 21st century. But his life and his work to create a stable rubber was full of problems -- many of them caused by Goodyear himself.
Research:
Britannica Editors. "Charles Goodyear". Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Dec. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Goodyear
“Charles Goodyear.” Who Made America? PBS. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/goodyear_hi.html
“Charles Goodyear - Vulcanization of Rubber.” National Inventors Hall of Fame. https://www.invent.org/inductees/charles-goodyear
“Charles Goodyear - Vulcanized Rubber.” Lemelson-MIT. https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/charles-goodyear
“Charles Goodyear and the Vulcanization of Rubber.” ConnecticutHistory.org. https://connecticuthistory.org/charles-goodyear-and-the-vulcanization-of-rubber/
“Charles Goodyear’s Machine for Making Rubber Fabrics.” ConnecticutHistory.org. https://connecticuthistory.org/charles-goodyears-machine-for-making-rubber-fabrics/
“Death of Charles Goodyear.” Carbondale Advantage. July 21, 1860. https://www.newspapers.com/image/638799032/?match=2&terms=%22charles%20goodyear%22
Goodyear, Charles. “Gum-elastic and its varieties : with a detailed account of its applications and uses, and of the discovery of vulcanization.” New Haven. Published for the Author. 1853. https://archive.org/details/gumelasticitsva121853good/
Goodyear, Charles. “IMPROVEMENT IN INDIA-RUBBER FABRICS.” United States Patent Office. June 15, 1844. https://web.archive.org/web/20150714081931/http://www.dpma.de/docs/service/klassifikationen/ipc/auto_ipc/us3633a.pdf
“Goodyear’s Gum Elastic Drapery and Parchment.” The Washington Union. May 4, 1837. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1038143941/?match=3&terms=%22charles%20goodyear%22%20mail
Iles, George. “Leading American Inventors.” H. Holt 1912. Accessed online: https://books.google.com/books?id=Hn0_AAAAIAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s
“India Rubber Fabric.” Daily Cleveland herald. October 10, 1835. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1073496245/?match=1&terms=%22Charles%20Goodyear%22
Slack, Charles. “Noble Obsession: Charles Goodyear, Thomas Hancock, and the Race to Unlock the Greatest Industrial Secret of the Nineteenth Century.” Hyperion. 2003.
Snow, Richard F. “Charles Goodyear.” American Heritage. April/May 1978. Vol. 29, Issue 3. https://www.americanheritage.com/charles-goodyear
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This 2022 episode covers the development of penicillin, which started – but definitely did not end – with the chance discovery of some mold in a petri dish.

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Tracy shares stories of her time in London. There is also a discussion of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin’s marriage.
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After earning her first-class degree in chemistry from Oxford, Dorothy embarked on an impressive career in the new field of X-ray crystallography. She would ultimately earn many, many accolades for her work.
Research:
"Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,
Biophysical Society. “Profiles in Biophysics: Dorothy Hodgkin.” 2016. https://www.biophysics.org/profiles/dorothy-hodgkin
Boon, Rachel. “Curator Rachel Boon celebrates the work of Dorothy Hodgkin.” Science Museum. 12/10/2014. https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/celebrating-dorothy-hodgkin-britains-first-female-winner-of-a-nobel-science-prize/
Bragg, Sir William. “Concerning The Nature Of Things.” London. Bell & Sons. 1932. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.222386/
Bud, Robert. "Discoverers and developers of penicillin (act. 1928–1950)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. May 21, 2009. Oxford University Press. Date of access 22 Jun. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-97279
Dodson, Guy. “Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, O.M. 12 May 1910--29 July 1994.” Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society , Dec., 2002, Vol. 48 (Dec., 2002). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3650256
DOROTHY CROWFOOT HODGKIN. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach 2026. Wed. 24 Jun 2026. https://www.nobelprize.org/stories/women-who-changed-science/dorothy-hodgkin/
Ferry, Georgina. "Dorothy Hodgkin". Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 May. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dorothy-Hodgkin. Accessed 24 June 2026.
Ferry, Georgina. "Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot (1910–1994), chemist and crystallographer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. May 21, 2009. Oxford University Press. Date of access 22 Jun. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-55028
Ferry, Georgina. “Dorothy Hodgkin: A Life.” Bloomsbury. 1998, 2014.
Ferry, Georgina. “Dorothy Hodgkin: on proteins and patterns.” The Lancet, 384, 1496-1497. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61912-7/fulltext
Ferry, Georgina. “The making of an exceptional scientist.” Nature. Vol. 464. April 29, 2010.
Gamble, Jessa. “When Hodgkin met Thatcher.” Nature. Vol. 514. October 16, 2014.
Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot. “The X-ray analysis of complicated molecules.” Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1964. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/hodgkin-lecture-1.pdf
Hodgkin, Dorothy. “The Pugwash Movement.” India International Centre Quarterly. Vol. 13, No. 2. June 1986. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23001474
Howard, Judith A.K. “Dorothy Hodgkin and her contributions to biochemistry.” Nature Reviews. Vol. 4. November 2003.
gale.com/apps/doc/K1631003072/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=8d7c4045. Accessed 23 June 2026.
Pearce, JMS. “Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin OM, FRS (1910-1994).” Hektoen International. https://hekint.org/2020/11/04/dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin-om-frs-1910-1994/
Perutz, Max. “Dorothy Crowfoot ” The Independent. Via The Crystallographic Community. https://www.iucr.org/people/crystallographers/dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin-by-m.f.-perutz
Pietzsch, Jochim. “Perspectives: Enhancing X-ray vision.” Nobel Prize. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1964/perspectives/
Ramaseshan, S. “Dorothy Hodgkin and the Indian Connection.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London , Jan., 1996. http://www.jstor.com/stable/531845
Root-Bernstein, Robert. “Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin: Structure as Art.” Leonardo , 2007, Vol. 40, No. 3 (2007). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20206415
Science History Institute Museum and Library. “Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin.” https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin/
The Royal Society. “Dorothy Hodgkin FRS.” https://royalsociety.org/about-us/who-we-are/diversity-inclusion/case-studies/scientists-with-disabilities/dorothy-hodgkin/
“Science for peace Building cultures of cooperation and non-violence through scientific collaboration.” 2025. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep73183.6
University of Oxford History of Science Museum. “Modelling the Structure of Penicillin.” https://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/backfromthedead/exhibition/the-structure-of-penicillin/index.html
Vijayan, M. “An outstanding scientist and great humanist: An obituary of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin.” Current Science, 10 August 1994, Vol. 67, No. 3 (10 August 1994). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24095820
Wallace, Rob. “Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin: Captured by Crystals.” National World War II 3/16/2022. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/dorothy-hodgkin-penicillin-insulin
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Dorothy Hodgkin's career in X-ray crystallography impacted a lot of science in the 20th century. Part one of her story covers her early life and formative experiences that led her to her field of research.
Research:
"Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin." Encyclopedia of World Biography Online, Gale, 1998. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints,
Biophysical Society. “Profiles in Biophysics: Dorothy Hodgkin.” 2016. https://www.biophysics.org/profiles/dorothy-hodgkin
Boon, Rachel. “Curator Rachel Boon celebrates the work of Dorothy Hodgkin.” Science Museum. 12/10/2014. https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/celebrating-dorothy-hodgkin-britains-first-female-winner-of-a-nobel-science-prize/
Bragg, Sir William. “Concerning The Nature Of Things.” London. Bell & Sons. 1932. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.222386/
Bud, Robert. "Discoverers and developers of penicillin (act. 1928–1950)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. May 21, 2009. Oxford University Press. Date of access 22 Jun. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-97279
Dodson, Guy. “Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin, O.M. 12 May 1910--29 July 1994.” Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society , Dec., 2002, Vol. 48 (Dec., 2002). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3650256
DOROTHY CROWFOOT HODGKIN. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach 2026. Wed. 24 Jun 2026. https://www.nobelprize.org/stories/women-who-changed-science/dorothy-hodgkin/
Ferry, Georgina. "Dorothy Hodgkin". Encyclopedia Britannica, 8 May. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dorothy-Hodgkin. Accessed 24 June 2026.
Ferry, Georgina. "Hodgkin, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot (1910–1994), chemist and crystallographer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. May 21, 2009. Oxford University Press. Date of access 22 Jun. 2026, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-55028
Ferry, Georgina. “Dorothy Hodgkin: A Life.” Bloomsbury. 1998, 2014.
Ferry, Georgina. “Dorothy Hodgkin: on proteins and patterns.” The Lancet, 384, 1496-1497. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)61912-7/fulltext
Ferry, Georgina. “The making of an exceptional scientist.” Nature. Vol. 464. April 29, 2010.
Gamble, Jessa. “When Hodgkin met Thatcher.” Nature. Vol. 514. October 16, 2014.
Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot. “The X-ray analysis of complicated molecules.” Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1964. https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/hodgkin-lecture-1.pdf
Hodgkin, Dorothy. “The Pugwash Movement.” India International Centre Quarterly. Vol. 13, No. 2. June 1986. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23001474
Howard, Judith A.K. “Dorothy Hodgkin and her contributions to biochemistry.” Nature Reviews. Vol. 4. November 2003.
gale.com/apps/doc/K1631003072/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=8d7c4045. Accessed 23 June 2026.
Pearce, JMS. “Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin OM, FRS (1910-1994).” Hektoen International. https://hekint.org/2020/11/04/dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin-om-frs-1910-1994/
Perutz, Max. “Dorothy Crowfoot ” The Independent. Via The Crystallographic Community. https://www.iucr.org/people/crystallographers/dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin-by-m.f.-perutz
Pietzsch, Jochim. “Perspectives: Enhancing X-ray vision.” Nobel Prize. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1964/perspectives/
Ramaseshan, S. “Dorothy Hodgkin and the Indian Connection.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London , Jan., 1996. http://www.jstor.com/stable/531845
Root-Bernstein, Robert. “Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin: Structure as Art.” Leonardo , 2007, Vol. 40, No. 3 (2007). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20206415
Science History Institute Museum and Library. “Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin.” https://www.sciencehistory.org/education/scientific-biographies/dorothy-crowfoot-hodgkin/
The Royal Society. “Dorothy Hodgkin FRS.” https://royalsociety.org/about-us/who-we-are/diversity-inclusion/case-studies/scientists-with-disabilities/dorothy-hodgkin/
“Science for peace Building cultures of cooperation and non-violence through scientific collaboration.” 2025. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep73183.6
University of Oxford History of Science Museum. “Modelling the Structure of Penicillin.” https://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/backfromthedead/exhibition/the-structure-of-penicillin/index.html
Vijayan, M. “An outstanding scientist and great humanist: An obituary of Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin.” Current Science, 10 August 1994, Vol. 67, No. 3 (10 August 1994). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24095820
Wallace, Rob. “Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin: Captured by Crystals.” National World War II 3/16/2022. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/dorothy-hodgkin-penicillin-insulin
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.