Grand Discoveries - Tribute to Cambridge Scientists
As part of the Grand Discoveries exhibition, stop by our giant mural to meet the pioneering scientists featured in this beautiful illustration by Rachael Presky. Explore their biographies and discover how their breakthroughs continue to inspire us today…
Chantelle Bell
Chantelle Bell is a British geneticist and entrepreneur who co-founded Syrona Health (originally Syrona Women) while completing an MPhil at Cambridge.
Inspired by personal experience, she and Anya Roy created diagnostic tools for a range of conditions and built the SORA virtual health assistant to democratise healthcare in the workplace. Bell previously worked in digital healthcare and consulting for medical device companies.
Under her leadership, Syrona now provides employee wellbeing benefits covering endometriosis, menopause, fertility, PCOS, and men’s health through symptom tracking, virtual consultations, and clinical support.
Named among Forbes’ Top 50 Women in European Tech and Financial Times’ Top 100 BAME tech leaders, she continues driving innovation in workplace health.
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist and geologist who developed the theory of evolution by natural selection, profoundly altering biological science.
His voyage on HMS Beagle yielded observations that led to his groundbreaking 1859 work, On the Origin of Species, which argued that species adapt and diversify through inherited variation and environmental pressures.
Darwin’s meticulous research encompassed plant and animal breeding, biogeography, and comparative anatomy. His ideas reshaped our understanding of life’s interconnectedness and have since been validated and expanded by genetics and molecular biology.
Darwin’s legacy endures as a cornerstone of modern biology and a testament to scientific curiosity.
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking was a world-renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist who revolutionised our understanding of black holes and the origins of the universe.
Building on Einstein’s general relativity, he predicted Hawking radiation and elucidated the behavior of singularities. Confined to a wheelchair by ALS, he authored groundbreaking works like A Brief History of Time, bringing complex cosmological ideas to a global audience.
As Lucasian Professor at Cambridge, Hawking made foundational contributions to quantum gravity and the thermodynamics of the universe.
His life and voice became symbols of perseverance, curiosity, and the joy of scientific exploration.
Dame Dorothy Hodgkin
Dame Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was a pioneering British chemist who received the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work determining the structures of vital biomolecules.
Using X-ray crystallography, Hodgkin elucidated the molecular arrangements of penicillin, vitamin B₁₂, and insulin, profoundly impacting medicine and pharmaceutical design.
Educated at the University of Oxford, she led the development of computational methods in crystallography and mentored generations of scientists.
As a prominent advocate for international scientific collaboration and education, Hodgkin was honoured with the Order of Merit in 1965.
Her legacy endures in structural biochemistry, drug development, and women’s leadership in science.
Rosalind Franklin
Rosalind Franklin was a British chemist and X‑ray crystallographer whose Photo 51 image was pivotal in identifying DNA’s double-helix structure.
Her precise measurements and analysis provided the crucial evidence interpreted by Watson and Crick.
Beyond DNA, Franklin’s research extended to coal, graphite microstructures, and viral morphology, producing influential publications.
Despite receiving limited recognition during her lifetime, her integrity, rigor, and dedication are now celebrated.
Franklin’s work reshaped molecular biology and crystallography. She stands as a powerful role model for women in science, her legacy reminding us of the importance of credit, equity, and excellence in researching life’s hidden forms.
Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton was a groundbreaking English mathematician and physicist whose contributions defined classical science.
His Principia Mathematica formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, unifying sky and earth under a single framework.
Newton co-developed calculus, advanced optics through his work on prisms and light spectrum, and innovated mathematical methods still used today.
He served as Master of the Royal Mint and President of the Royal Society. His insights established the mechanistic worldview that shaped centuries of scientific thought.
Newton’s meticulous experimentation and theoretical synthesis epitomize the power of human reason in unlocking nature’s secrets.
Dr. Nicola Patron
Dr. Nicola Patron is an Associate Professor of Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge and a pioneer in plant synthetic biology.
She earned her PhD in plant biotechnology then conducted postdoctoral research in plant and algal metabolism at the John Innes Centre and the University of British Columbia.
She then led synthetic biology efforts at the Sainsbury Lab and Earlham Institute. Patron’s lab specialises in the discovery and engineering of gene regulatory networks and metabolic pathways.
Known for establishing plant DNA assembly standards and tools for biotechnology, she leads the Cambridge Plant Molecular Engineering group committed to agricultural innovation and sustainable biomanufacturing.
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Srinivasa Ramanujan was an exceptionally gifted Indian mathematician whose intuitive grasp of number theory, infinite series, and partitions yielded over 3,000 original results.
Despite lacking formal training, his compelling notebooks reached G.H. Hardy at Cambridge, where their fruitful collaboration produced groundbreaking work on modular functions and partition formulas.
Ramanujan’s contributions continue to influence modern fields like combinatorics, mathematical analysis, and string theory.
Battling illness, he returned to India in 1919 and died in 1920, leaving his notebooks as lasting treasures.
His life story—marked by brilliance, discovery, and cross-cultural partnership—remains a testament to the boundless potential of human intellect.
Anya Roy
Anya Roy is the co-founder and CEO of Syrona Health, a digital workplace health platform dedicated to closing the gender health gap.
With an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise and motivated by her own diagnostic journey, Roy democratises access to life-stage healthcare through employee wellbeing benefits.
Syrona’s SORA app offers symptom tracking, virtual consultations, and clinical support for endometriosis, PCOS, fertility, menopause, and men’s health—helping employers create inclusive workplace cultures.
Available to businesses across the UK, Ireland, and USA, Anya’s vision challenges systemic bias in workplace health and empowers employees through transformative healthcare outcomes during life’s significant transitions.
Angela Saini
Angela Saini is an acclaimed science journalist, broadcaster, and author renowned for her investigative works on race, gender, and scientific bias.
With a degree in engineering and now teaching science writing, she has authored bestselling books like Superior, Inferior, and The Patriarchs, challenging entrenched assumptions in biology, anthropology, and technology.
Her writing explores how social prejudice infiltrates research and public policy, advocating for more inclusive, equitable science.
Regularly featured in international media and honoured with awards like the American Association for the Advancement of Science Gold Prize, Saini passionately promotes critical, ethical engagement with scientific knowledge, inspiring people to scrutinise the intersection of science, society, and power.
Alan Turing
Alan Turing was a visionary British mathematician whose work laid the foundations of computer science, artificial intelligence, and cryptanalysis.
His concept of the Turing machine formalized computation, and his code-breaking at Bletchley Park—especially cracking the Enigma cipher—shortened WWII and saved countless lives.
Post-war, he built one of the first electronic computers and proposed the famous “Turing Test” to assess machine intelligence.
Despite his brilliance, Turing’s life ended tragically after being persecuted for his homosexuality.
In recent years, he has been officially pardoned and celebrated as a hero of science and LGBTQ+ history.
Dr. Marta Zlatić
Dr Marta Zlatić is a neuroscientist and Fellow of the Royal Society. After her BA and PhD at Cambridge studying Drosophila neural development, she established her group at HHMI Janelia in 2009, then returned to the UK in 2019 to lead a research program at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Department of Zoology.
Zlatić pioneers whole-brain, synaptic-resolution mapping combined with functional imaging to reveal how insect neural circuits drive learning, action selection, and behaviour.
She’s received the Eric Kandel Young Neuroscientist Prize and the Crick Medal and was elected FRS in 2025.
