Dmitri Shostakovich vs Dorothy Hodgkin
Two child prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Dmitri Shostakovich | Dorothy Hodgkin | |
| Field | Music | Science |
| Sub-field | Composer | Chemistry |
| Born | 1906 | 1910 |
| Died | 1975 | 1994 |
| Country of birth | Russia | Egypt |
| Star sign | Libra | Taurus |
Who they are
Dmitri Shostakovich
In January 1936, Josef Stalin attended a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District at the Bolshoi Theatre and left before the final act. Two days later, Pravda published an unsigned editorial — almost certainly authorized at the highest level — titled "Muddle Instead of Music." The article attacked the opera as "formalist" and "bourgeois," its dissonances described as deliberate assaults on Soviet socialist culture. Shostakovich was twenty-nine years old, the most celebrated composer in the Soviet Union, and now suddenly in danger. He had a new symphony nearly finished —…
Full biography of Dmitri Shostakovich →
Dorothy Hodgkin
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1964 — Structures of penicillin, vitamin B12 & insulin X-ray crystallography · Oxford University · Third woman Nobel Chemistry laureate Born May 12, 1910 · Cairo · Died July 29, 1994
Full biography of Dorothy Hodgkin →
What they share
- Near contemporaries - 4 years apart.
- Their lifetimes overlap.
Where they part
- Different fields: Music for Dmitri Shostakovich, Science for Dorothy Hodgkin.
- Born in different countries: Russia and Egypt.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Dmitri Shostakovich or Dorothy Hodgkin?
- Dmitri Shostakovich. Dmitri Shostakovich was born in 1906, Dorothy Hodgkin in 1910.
- What field is each of them in?
- Dmitri Shostakovich is filed under Music (Composer). Dorothy Hodgkin is filed under Science (Chemistry).
- Were they contemporaries?
- Yes - their lifetimes overlap.