William H. Bragg: Earliest Haven for Women X-ray Crystallographers

Abstract

There was a concentration of women researchers in the early years of X-ray crystallography. These were students of William Henry Bragg and his son, William Lawrence Bragg. Both took on women researchers, but it was the father, W. H. Bragg, who accepted far more women and who is the focus in this chapter. We have selected Kathleen Lonsdale (née Yardley) and Ellie Knaggs as exemplars of W. H. Bragg’s women research students.