An Interactive Annotated World Bibliography of Printed and Digital Works in the History of Medicine and the Life Sciences from Circa 2000 BCE to 2024 by Fielding H. Garrison (1870-1935), Leslie T. Morton (1907-2004), and Jeremy M. Norman (1945- ) Traditionally Known as “Garrison-Morton”

16061 entries, 14144 authors and 1947 subjects. Updated: December 10, 2024

Permanent Link for Entry #9085

  • 6920

The reflection of x-rays by crystals.

Proc. Roy. Soc. 88A, 428-30, 1913.

Discovery of X-ray crystallography. The father and son team of physicists, William Henry Bragg and William Lawrence Bragg, constructed the first X-ray spectrometer using crystals as gratings, using a known wavelength to determine the distances between atomic planes—and thus the structure—of crystalline substances. By the end of 1913 the Braggs reduced the problem of crystal structure analysis to a standard procedure. For further information see the entry at HistoryofInformation.com at this link. The Braggs' paper is available from the Royal Society at this link.

In 1915 the Braggs shared the Nobel Prize in Physics "for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays."



Subjects: BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, BIOLOGY › MOLECULAR BIOLOGY › X-Ray Crystallography, NOBEL PRIZES › Nobel Prize in Physics (selected)
Permalink: historyofmedicine.com/id/9085