Seeing further: the story of science & the Royal Society — 11 GEORGINA FERRY

1. 1. Dorothy Hodgkin and J.D. Bernal were among the founders of X-ray crystallography, aiming to reveal the structure of life in atomic detail.
2. 2. William Henry Bragg and his son William Lawrence Bragg established the technique of X-ray crystallography and shared the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics.
3. 3. Max Perutz summarized that structural analysis explains phenomena from boiling points to muscle contraction and evolution.
4. 4. W.H. Bragg promoted public understanding of science through Christmas Lectures and books, stating that X-rays allow us to 'see' individual atoms.
5. 5. Kathleen Lonsdale and Marjorie Stephenson were the first women elected Fellows of the Royal Society in 1945, after political maneuvering by President Sir Henry Dale.
6. 6. Kathleen Lonsdale wrote 'Is Peace Possible?' in response to her guilt over the misuse of scientific knowledge for atomic weapons.
7. 7. J.D. Bernal, a polymath and Marxist, argued for central planning of science in 'The Social Function of Science' (1939) to improve human welfare.
8. 8. Bernal coined the phrase 'weapons of mass destruction' in a 1949 speech opposing nuclear warfare.
9. 9. Dorothy Hodgkin solved the structure of penicillin in 1945, confirming the beta-lactam ring essential for antibiotic activity.
10. 10. Hodgkin was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work on penicillin, vitamin B12, and insulin, becoming the first British woman to win a science Nobel.
11. 11. Max Perutz discovered that introducing mercury atoms into protein crystals solved the phase problem, enabling the structure of haemoglobin to be determined in 1959.
12. 12. The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, led by Perutz, fostered a collaborative culture with compulsory tea breaks, producing numerous Nobel laureates.