Astbury, a student of William Lawrence Bragg, was the first to study proteins by X-ray analysis. He applied X-ray analysis to the structure of hair, wool, and related fibers, of which the protein keratin is the principal component, and identified two states: α-keratin and β-keratin. With A. Street. For further information see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link. Astbury's paper is available from jstor at this link.