Record

Authorised form of name	Lonsdale; Dame; Kathleen Yardley (1903 - 1971); crystallographer and pacifist
Other forms of name	Kathleen
Other forms of surname	Yardley
Dates	1903 - 1971
Nationality	British
Place of birth	Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland
Date of birth	28/01/1903
Place of death	London, England
Date of death	01/04/1971
Occupation	Crystallography
Research field	X-ray crystallography
	Crystallography
	Chemistry
	Physics
Activity	Education: Downshall elementary school, Seven Kings (1908-1914); County High School for Girls, Ilford (1914-1919); Bedford College for Women. BSc (1922, maths and physics and was first in the University of London lists) Career: Offered a research post in 1922 by W H Bragg (FRS 1907) to study the crystal structure of organic compounds by X-ray analysis; worked first at University College, London, then from 1923 at the Royal Institution, London. Working with W.T.Astbury began to apply space group theories to the study of X-ray diffraction patterns from crystals. Their important paper 'Tabulated data for the examination of the 230 space-groups by homogenous X-rays' was published by the Royal Society in 'Philosophical Transactions' in 1924. Went to Leeds (1927-1930), where she carried out important analyses of hexamethylbenzene and hexachlorobenzene crystals. International crystallographersd recognised the need for more comprehensive tables for crystal structure determination, and Lonsdale was a member of the editorial groupconcerned with the prpduction of new tables. She worked from home in the early 1930s follwing the birth of her first child, providing the structure factor formulae for each space group. The resulting 'International Tables', published in 1935, proved to be only the beginning of a project to shich she devoted much time and effort during the rest of her career, becoming Chaiman of the new Commission of Tables in 1948 and the principal editor in the production of the new volumes of 'International Tables' which first appeared in 1951. She returned to the Royal Institution in 1931 and remained there for the next fifteen years, concentrating on diamagnetic anisotropy, where her work on the magnetic anisotropy of benzil led to her studies of disorder in crystals caused by thermal motions, one of her principal research interests during the rest of her career. She was the first woman to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (1945); Reader in Crystallography, University College, London (1946), becoming Professor of Chemistry (1949). She established her own research school there and introduced two new courses in crystallography, one for undergraduates and the other for graduates. Among other wide interests, she studied methonium compounds, urinary calculi and synthetic diamonds, though her work on the 'International Tables' diverted much of her time from research. She developed divergent-beam X-ray photography of crystals and studied X-ray reflection by single crystals. She and her husband became members of the Society of Friends in 1935, which led to her refusal to register for civil defence duties, although she was willing to work as a volunteer. On her refusal to pay a fine for non-registration she was imprisoned in Holloway gaol for one month in 1943. This led to her taking an active interest in penal reform; she was made a member of the Board of Visitors, Aylesbury Prison for Women and Borstal Institution for Girls in 1949 and later served as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Visitors of a borstal in Essex. She was also concerned with world peace and ethics in science, becoming Vice-President of the Atomic Scientists Association and President of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She attended several Pugwash Conferences on World Affairs and expressed her hope for peace in numerous articles, including a Penguin special 'Is Peace Possible?' and in lectures. She was Vice-President of the International Union of Crystallography (1960-19660, and President (1966); General Secretary of the British Association (1959-1964), President of the Physics Sections (1967) and President of the British Association (1967-1968), the first woman to hold the post. She received honorary degrees (DSc or LLD) from several universities including those of Wales, Leicester, Manchester, Oxford, Bath and Leeds. Honours: DBE 1956
Membership category	Fellow
Date of election	22/03/1945
Age at election	42
Proposer	Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar
	Neil Kensington Adam
	Geoffrey Ingram Taylor
	Ralph Howard Fowler
	Richard Whiddington
	Cecil Henry Desch
	Charles Sykes
	Nevill Francis Mott
	William Wilson
	Edmund Clifton Stoner
	William Thomas Astbury
	William Henry Bragg
RSActivity	Royal Society roles: VP 1960-1961 Medals and prizes: Davy Medal 1957
Relationships	Parents: Harry Frederick Yardley (d. 1923), local postmaster, and Jessie Cameron. Spouse: (1927) Thomas Jackson Lonsdale. Children: Two daughters, one son.
PublishedWorks	RCN R75085 RCN R75137 RCN R75084 RCN R75065 RCN 19593 RCN R75037 RCN R75032 RCN R75042 RCN R75122 RCN R75079 RCN R75049 RCN R75149 RCN R75077 RCN R75024 RCN R75254 RCN R75075 RCN R75107 RCN R75062 RCN R75086 RCN R75145 RCN R75161 RCN R75115 RCN R75121 RCN 19344 RCN 19594 RCN R75039 RCN R75034 RCN R75038 RCN R75046 RCN R75033 RCN R75045 RCN R75055 RCN R75155 RCN R75153 RCN R75124 RCN R75036 RCN R75117 RCN R75180 RCN 16751 RCN 10633 RCN 26195 RCN 19595 RCN R75087 RCN R75118 RCN R75181 RCN 19596 RCN 8783 RCN 19597 RCN R75163 RCN R75089 RCN R75056 RCN R75035 RCN R75041 RCN R75067 RCN R75116 RCN R75148 RCN R75083 RCN R75082 RCN R75119 RCN R75143 RCN R75081 RCN R75048 RCN R75108 RCN 17394 RCN R75126 RCN R75120 RCN R75109 RCN R75078 RCN R75027 RCN R75088 RCN R75080 RCN R75076 RCN R75113
OtherInfo	Played a fundamental role in establishing the science of crysallography. Demonstrated for the first time that the benzene ring was hexagonal and planar and calculating its precise dimensions (1929). The first to use Fourier spectral methods while solving the structure of hexachlorobenzene (1931). One of the first two women to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. First woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and of the International Union of Crystallography. Strongly believed in absolute pacifism.
Royal Society Obituary or Memoir	Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices)
Related images	Discover a selection of related images in our picture library
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Source	Sources: DSB Obituaries: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1975 vol 21 pp 447-484, plate, by Dorothy M C Hodgkin References: Joan Mason, 'The Admission of the First Women to the Royal Society of London' in NR 1992 vol 46 pp 279-300, plate Joan Mason, 'The Women Fellows' Jubilee' in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 125-140 R Singh and F Riess, 'The nobel laureate Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman FRS and his contacts with the British Scientific community in a social and political context' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 47-64 D Blow and S Wallwork, 'Prehistory of the British Crystallographic Association' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 177-186 M Baldwin, 'Where are your intelligent mothers to come from? Marriage and Family in the scientific career of Dame Kathleen Lonsdale FRS (1903-1971)' in NR 2009 Vol 63 pp 81-94
Code	NA7993

Archives associated with this Fellow

RefNo	Title	Date
IM/002803	Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen Yardley	September 1948
P/0155	Portrait of Lonsdale, Kathleen	1963
IM/003324	Tereshkova, Valentina	6 February 1964
IM/002806	Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen Yardley	nd
IM/002808	Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen Yardley	nd
IM/002804	Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen Yardley	nd
IM/Meitner Graf/002805	Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen Yardley	nd
RR/50/77	Referee's report by Arthur Hutchinson, on a paper 'The structure of symm. (1-3-5) triphenylbenzene. Part I' by Boris Orelkin and Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale	1 January 1934
RR/69/227	Letter from Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'Temperature changes in the crystal structure of barium titanium oxide' by Helen D Megaw to J D Griffith Davies, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society	2 July 1946
RR/66/146	Referee's report by Christopher Kelk Ingold, on a paper 'Diamagnetic anisotropy of organic molecules' by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale	[March 1939]
RR/69/241	Letter from Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'The effect of temperature on the intensity of x-ray reflection by gold' by E A Owne and R Wilson-Williams to J D Griffith Davies, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society	26 June 1946
RR/67/275	Referee's report by Nevil Vincent Sidgwick, on a paper 'Molecular anisotropy of urea, CO(NH2)2, and of related compounds' by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale	14 October 1940
RR/70/126	Referee's report by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'Magnetic properties of some paramagnetic crystals at low temperatures' by Bhagawati Charan Guha	9 November 1950
RR/69/226	Referee's report by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'Temperature changes in the crystal structure of barium titanium oxide' by Helen D Megaw	1946
RR/69/174	Referee's report by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'X-ray reflexions from dilute solid solutions' by Kun Huang	1946
RR/70/125	Letter from Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'Magnetic properties of some paramagnetic crystals at low temperatures' by Bhagawati Charan Guha to David Christie Martin, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society	9 November 1950
RR/69/215	Referee's report by William Thomas Astbury, on a paper 'Divergent-beam X-ray photography of crystals' by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale	1945
RR/69/271	Referee's report by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'The accuracy of bond-length estimations obtained by double Fourier series methods from X-ray data' by John Monteath Robertson and John Graham White	1946
RR/70/222	Referee's report by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'The theory of the vibrations and the Roman spectrum of the diamond lattice' by Helen M J Smith	1947
RR/69/240	Referee's report by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'The effect of temperature on the intensity of x-ray reflection by gold' by E A Owen and R Wilson-Williams	1946
RR/69/214	Referee's report by William Lawence Bragg, on a paper 'Divergent-beam X-ray photography of crystals' by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale	1945
RR/69/272	Letter from Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'The accuracy of bond-length estimations obtained by double Fourier series methods from X-ray data' by John Monteath Robertson and John Graham White to David Christie Martin, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society	3 January 1946
RR/30/6	Referee's report by Arthur Schuster, on a paper 'Tabulated data for the examination of the 230 space-groups by homogeneous X-rays' by William Thomas Astbury and Kathleen Yardley	[1924]
NLB/65/902	Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir William [Henry] Bragg, FRS	25 January 1924
NLB/66/220	Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh.	18 March 1924
RR/61/50	Referee's report by Alfred Edwin Howard Tutton, on a paper 'Structure of 1.2-diphenylbenzene (C18 H14)' by C J Birkett Clews and Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale	May 1937
EC/1945/13	Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen Yardley: certificate of election to the Royal Society	1945
NLB/70/881	Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Mrs [Kathleen] Lonsdale; Physics Department, The University of Leeds	28 October 1927
NLB/65/928	Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Lord Rayleigh [Robert John Strutt], FRS	31 January 1924
NLB/66/255	Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh	27 March 1924
IM/002807	Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen Yardley	nd
IM/002802	Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen Yardley	1995
WF/123	Grant application from British Association for the Advancement of Science to the Wolfson Foundation	1964-1974
NLB/66/168	Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, FRS	6 March 1924
IM/GA/WS/1835	Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen Yardley	nd
RR/39/74	Referee's report by William Lawrence Bragg, on a paper 'The structure of the benzene ring in C6 (CH3)6' by Kathleen Lonsdale	[February 1929]
RR/67/266	Referee's report by Nevil Vincent Sidgwick, on a paper 'The structure of melamine, C3N6H6' by Ellie Knaggs and Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale	September 1940
RR/68/121	Second letter from William Henry Bragg, to Alfred Charles Glyn Egerton, regarding three papers, 'Extra reflexions from the two types of diamond' by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, 'Reflexion and scattering of X-rays with change of frequency, I. Theoretical' and 'Reflexion and scattering of X-rays with change of frequency - II. Experimental' by Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman	17 October 1941
RR/30/7	Referee's report by Robert John Strutt, Lord Rayleigh, on a paper 'Tabulated data for the examination of the 230 space-groups by homogeneous X-rays' by William Thomas Astbury and Kathleen Yardley	[March 1924]
RR/58/58	Referee's report by Charles Galton Darwin, on a paper 'Diamagnetic anisotrophy of crystals in relation to their molecular structure' by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale and Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan	April 1936
RR/58/59	Referee's report by Nevill Francis Mott, on a paper 'Magnetic anisotropy and electronic structure of aromatic molecules' by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale	November 1936
RR/67/276	Referee's report by William Thomas Astbury, on a paper 'Structure and molecular anisotropy of sorbic acid, CH3 . CH : CH . CH : CH . COOH' by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, John Monteath Robertson and Ida Woodward	1940
RR/68/102	Memoranda, on a paper 'Extra reflexions from the two types of diamond' by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale	25 October 1941
RR/71/11	Referee's report by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'Neutron diffraction' by G E Bacon and J Thewlis	[1948]
RR/71/40	Referee's report by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, on a paper 'The refinement of atomic parameters by the technique known in X-ray crystallography as ‘the method of steepest descents’' by A D Booth	[1948]
RR/77/179	Referee's report by Kathleen Lonsdale, on a paper 'Septum permeation of hydrogen from flames' by F W Thompson and Alfred Rene Jean Paul Ubbelohde	2 September 1952
RR/68/122	Letter from Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, to William Henry Bragg, regarding three papers, 'Extra reflexions from the two types of diamond' by Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, 'Reflexion and scattering of X-rays with change of frequency, I. Theoretical' and 'Reflexion and scattering of X-rays with change of frequency - II. Experimental' by Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman	18 September 1941
RR/71/41	Letter from Kathleen Yardley Lonsdale, to Alfred Charles Glyn Egerton, regarding a paper 'The refinement of atomic parameters by the technique known in X-ray crystallography as ‘the method of steepest descents’' by A D Booth	19 October 1948
RR/73/222	Referee's report by Kathleen Londsdale, on a paper 'The crystal structure of ribonuclease. I' by C H Carlisle & H Scoloudi	18 September 1950
RR/75/95	Referee's report by Kathleen Lonsdale, on a paper 'The thermal transition in caesium chloride in relation to crystal structure' by J W Menary, Alfred Rene Jean Paul Ubbelohde and Miss Ida Woodward	4 April 1951
RR/75/129	Referee's report by Kathleen Lonsdale, on a paper 'The work functions of copper, silver and aluminium' by Edgar William John Mitchell and John Wesley Mitchell	2 August 1951
RR/75/166	Referee's report by Kathleen Lonsdale, on a paper 'The diffraction of thermal neutrons by single crystals' by G E Bacon	11 July 1951
RR/79/188	Referee's report by Kathleen Lonsdale, on a paper 'High angle Kikuchi patterns' by M N Alam, Moses Blackman and Donald William Pashley	14 August 1953
RR/75/210	Referee's report by Kathleen Londsdale, on a paper 'Measurements with crystals using polarized infra-red radiation' by J Mann and Harold Warris Thompson	6 September 1951
RR/79/136	Referee's report by Kathleen Lonsdale, on a paper 'The diffuse reflection of neutrons by a single crystal' by R D Lowde	21 July 1953

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