Kathleen Lonsdale

Kathleen Lonsdale
File:Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale (1903-1971).jpg Lonsdale in 1968
Born	Kathleen Yardley (1903-01-28)28 January 1903 Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland
Died	London, England
Fields	Crystallographer
Institutions	University College London Royal Institution University of Leeds
Alma mater	Bedford College for Women University College London
Doctoral advisor	William Henry Bragg
Known for	X-ray crystallography
Notable awards	Davy Medal (1957) Fellow of the Royal Society

Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, DBE FRS (née Yardley, 28 January 1903 – 1 April 1971) was an Irish crystallographer who proved that the benzene ring was flat by X-ray diffraction methods in 1929. She was the first to use Fourier spectral methods while solving the structure of hexachlorobenzene in 1931. During her career she attained several firsts for a woman scientist, including one of the first two women elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1945 (along with Marjory Stephenson), first woman tenured professor at University College London, first woman president of the International Union of Crystallography, and first woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

Early life and education

She was born Kathleen Yardley at Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, the tenth child of Harry Yardley, the town postmaster, and Jessie Cameron. Her family moved to Seven Kings, Essex, England, when she was five years old, her mother decided to relocate the family as a result of Harry's alcoholism. She studied at Woodford County High School for Girls, then transferred to Ilford County High School for Boys to study mathematics and science, because the girls' school did not offer these subjects.

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Bedford College for Women in 1922, graduating in physics with an MSc from University College London in 1924.

Career and research

In 1924, she joined the crystallography research team headed by William Henry Bragg at the Royal Institution. After her marriage, Lonsdale worked at the University of Leeds in the late 1920s. During the early 1930s, she cared for her small children nearly full-time.

In 1934, Lonsdale returned to work with Bragg at the Royal Institution as a researcher. She was awarded a DSc from University College London in 1936 while at the Royal Institution. In addition to discovering the structure of benzene and hexachlorobenzene, Lonsdale worked on the synthesis of diamonds. She was a pioneer in the use of X-rays to study crystals. Lonsdale was elected as one of the first two women elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1945 (the other was the biochemist Marjory Stephenson).

In 1949, Lonsdale became a professor of chemistry and the head of the Department of Crystallography at University College, London. Amongst her students was Karimat El-Sayed who became a Professor of Crystallography in Egypt. On a more personal level El-Sayed credits Lonsdale with demonstrating to her how a career and a family could be balanced. She was the first tenured woman professor at that college, a position she held until 1968 when she was named Professor Emeritus.

Selected publications

• Simplified Structure Factor and Electron Density Formulae for the 230 Space Groups of Mathematical Crystallography, G. Bell & Sons, London, 1936.
• "Divergent Beam X-ray Photography of Crystals," Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 240A: 219 (1947).
• Crystals and X-Rays, G. Bell & Sons, London, 1948.
• Removing the Causes of War, 1953.
• Is peace possible? (1957)
• Forth in Thy Name: The Life and Work of Godfrey Mowatt (1959)

Legacy and honours

• 1956, she was given the title Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
• 1966, she was elected as the first woman president of the International Union of Crystallography.
• 1967, active in encouraging young people to study science, she was elected as the first woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.
• A Kathleen Lonsdale Building is named in her honour at both University College London, UK and University of Limerick, Ireland.
• 1969, she was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the University of Bath.
• Lonsdaleite, an allotrope of carbon, was named in her honour; it is a rare harder form of diamond found in meteorites.

Personal life

After beginning her research career, in 1927 Yardley married Thomas Jackson Lonsdale. They had three children – Jane, Nancy, and Stephen. Stephen became a medical doctor and worked for several years in Nyasaland (now Malawi).

Pacifism

Though she had been brought up in the Baptist denomination as a child, Kathleen Lonsdale became a Quaker in 1935, simultaneously with her husband. Already committed pacifists, both were attracted to Quakerism for this reason. She served a month in Holloway prison during the Second World War because she refused to register for civil defence duties, or pay a fine for refusing to register. In 1953 at the annual meeting of the British Quakers, she delivered the keynote Swarthmore Lecture, under the title Removing the Causes of War. A self-identified Christian pacifist, she wrote about peaceful dialogue and was appointed the first secretary of Churches' Council of Healing by the Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple.

Death

Lonsdale died on 1 April 1971 from an anaplastic cancer of unknown origin. Her career-long exposure to X-Rays is thought to have had a significant impact on her cancer risk.