John Desmond BernalBorn 10 May 1901; died 15 Sep 1971 at age 70. Irish physicist and X-ray crystallographer whose seminal contributions contributions to X-ray crystallography were used to determine the atomic structures of solid compounds. After graduating from Cambridge, he began research in 1923 at the Royal Institution in London for William Henry Bragg, on the structure of graphite. By 1927, he returned to Cambridge as the first lecturer in structural crystallography. The range of his research expanded into molecular biology, the origin of life and the structure and composition of the Earth's crust. Although he never won a Nobel Prize himself, he trained other scientists who did, including Dorothy Hodgkin, Max Perutz, and Aaron Klug. During WWII, he consulted concerning civilian defence, effects of explosions, RAF bombing strategy and post-war rebuilding.« |
