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
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