Happy birthday to Kathleen Lonsdale DBE FRS (née Yardley, 1903-1971) who solved a longstanding #chemistry conundrum of the shape of benzene, here with her drawing of electron density for hexachlorobenzene (green) & model of hexamethylbenzene explore shape in different forms. Her husband said, “Before prison it might have bothered her to go to Buckingham Palace. Afterwards, Holloway or Buckingham Palace were all the same.” 🧵
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She was a #physicist, #crystallographer, #pacifist & prison reformer. She was the 1st to employ Fourier spectral methods & used them to solve the structure of hexachlorobenzene in ‘31. In ‘45 she was one of the 1st 2 women elected Fellow of the Royal Society & was the 1st woman: tenured professor at UC London, president of the International Union of Crystallography & president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Born in poverty in Ireland, her mother left her father & 🧵2
brought the surviving kids to England when she was 5. She graduated in #physics with the highest score ever for a London University, with a BSc from Bedford College of Women in ‘22, & MSc from UCL in ‘24. Nobel laureate W.H. Bragg offered her a spot on his team at the Royal Institution, where she worked until she married in ‘27 & followed her husband research #chemist Thomas Lonsdale to Leeds for a job. She continued to correspond with Bragg & calculated structure factors 🧵 3/5
while focusing on starting their family, from ‘29 - ‘34. Her husband supported her research & encouraged her to return to work if she could. Bragg, anxious to have her back, was able to get funding to supply her with childcare help & rehired her in ‘34. She earned her DSc from the U of London in ‘36 while working at the Royal Institution. In ‘35, the Lonsdales, both committed pacifists became Quakers. 🧵4/5
So when she was required to register for civil defence duties during WWII she refused to do so or to pay the fine. She was sentenced a month in Holloway prison, where the grim conditions lead to a life-long commitment to prison reform & activism. She died in 1971 from anaplastic cancer at age 68. 🧵5/5
