Molecules and Life

Series: Nobel Laureates Series

Duration: 20

Year Published: 1971

Creator: Educ Fdn for Visual Aids of England

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Description: Depicts, with the aid of microcinematography, diagrams, models, and time-lapse photography, the work of Nobel Laureates who made great strides in the discovery of the structure of molecules. Recreates the work of Sir Lawrence Bragg (1915) who discovered, through X-ray analysis, the molecular structure of sodium chloride; Dr. Dorothy Hodgkin (1964), who used Bragg's findings to determine the structure of vitamin B12; Dr. Frederick Sanger (1958), who solved the mystery of the molecular structure of a protein, insulin; Dr. Max Perutz (1962),who discovered the structure of hemoglobin; and Dr. John Kendrew (1962), who discovered the structure of myoglobin. Points to the many cures which have developed from these findings and expresses the hope that someday there will be a cure for sickle cell anemia through the knowledge obtained about the molecular structure of hemoglobin.