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Comment by gnufx | Hacker News Reader

Her name might be best known from the eponymous college, perhaps without knowing the connexion: https://www.some.ox.ac.uk/about-somerville/history/

Its alumna Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin is particularly relevant in the context. (I recall when she died the obituary was quickly pushed off BBC news by the death of some actor/actress; sigh.) "... live simply and do serious things." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Hodgkin

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I really like that quote "... live simply and do serious things.", what's the source on that? Thanks!

There doesn't appear to be a completely authentic source. It's cited to be part of a 1988 graduation speech at Bristol University, and appears to be more correctly "live modestly and do serious things". As far as I can tell, no printed copy of that speech exists, so it's all hearsay.

The closest I can get to an authentic citation is a quote of it by a colleague in an obituary published by the Royal Society[1]. It rings authentic, in that it seems like something that would be said in the context of a graduation speech, and as such it may not have left a written record.

[1] https://vdocuments.site/dorothy-mary-crowfoot-hodgkin-om-12-...

Hmm, yes, thanks. I know it as basically crystallographic lore from long ago, as in email sigs, but the only source I could find now is http://www.some.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Dorothy-... I now find another familiar name from the past quoting the "modestly" version which I should use in future: https://sites.google.com/site/oxfordawisehome/elspeth-garman

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