| Authorised form of name | Bernal; John Desmond (1901 - 1971) |
| Dates | 1901 - 1971 |
| Nationality | British |
| Date of birth | 10/05/1901 |
| Date of death | 15/09/1971 |
| Research field | Crystallography |
| Activity | Education:
Stonyhurst College (1911-1912); Bedford School; Emmanuel College, Cambridge University (matriculated 1919)
Career:
Assistant Director of Research in Crystallography, Cambridge; research work with Sir William Bragg, Royal Institution, (1923-1927); Lecturer in Crystallography, Cambridge (1927-1934); Science Advisor (during World War 2); Birkbeck College, London. Though a specialist in crystallography, he had a wide scientific range, extending as far as biochemistry.
A Communist, awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1953
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 06/05/1937 |
| Age at election | 35 |
| RSActivity | Medals and prizes:
Royal Medal 1945
Lectures:
Bakerian 1962 |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll
Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1980 vol 26 pp 17-84, plate, by Dorothy M C Hodgkin
References:
Roy S Porter, 'Medical futures' (The Wilkins Lecture 2000) in NR 2001 vol 55 pp 325-329
Sir John Meurig Thomas, 'Peterhouse, the Royal Society and molecular biology' in NR 2000 vol 54 pp 369-385
Roy H W Johnston, 'J D Bernal, FRS: Some Irish Influences' in NR 1993 vol 47 pp 93-103
Ann Synge, 'J D Bernal, FRS: Family, School and University' in NR 1992 vol 46 pp 267-278, plate
Anne Cooke, 'Shedding light on the enigmatic Rosalind Franklin. Rosalind Franklin - the dark lady of DNA, by B Maddox' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 239-243
W Hayes, 'Physics as well as poetry. Physicists of Ireland, edited by M McCartney and A Whitaker' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 245-246
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 |
| Code | NA8040 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| PB/8/6/8 | 'Science for peace. Synopsis' | nd |
| PB/3/2/1/15/3/3 | Correspondence with John Desmond Bernal | 1958-1959 |
| PB/8/6/7 | Papers and talks on science and society by others, collected by Blackett, many annotated by him. | c.1943-1945 |
| PB/9/1/11 | Correspondence re John Desmond Bernal | 1963-1964, 1971 |
| PB/4/8/43 | Correspondence with Reginald Stradling on Bernal's report on effects of air raids | 1942 |
| PB/3/2/1/18/10/5 | Correspondence with John Desmond Bernal re Blackett's Climatology paper | c.1961 |
| PB/1/33/4/1 | President of the Royal Society | 1965 |
| PB/5/3/6/2 | 'Comments on Background Papers' | 1963 |
| PB/5/2/3 | Meeting and drafts of 'Science and the Labour Party' | 1958 |
| PB/1/34/1 | Letters of congratulation on Blackett's Life Peerage | 1969 |
| PB/4/9/2/1 | 'Notes on Future Armament Policy. TWC' (Tizard Weapons Committee) | c.1945 |
| IM/000344 | Bernal, John Desmond | 1938 |
| IM/000345 | Bernal, John Desmond | 1935 |
| PB/6/2/4/2 | Folder inscribed 'Royal Society Evidence to Trend Committee' | 1962 |
| RR/61/47 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'Crystal growth from solutions' by W F Berg | September 1937 |
| RR/63/13 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The thermoelastic properties of muscle and their molecular interpretation' by K H Meyer and L E R Picken | June 1937 |
| RR/65/261 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The submicroscopic structure of dental enamel' by J Thewlis | December 1938 |
| RR/61/6 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'Preparation of single crystal wires of metals of high melting point' by Edward Neville Da Costa Andrade | July 1937 |
| RR/63/115 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The glide of single crystals of molybdenum' by L C Tsien and Y S Chow | July 1937 |
| RR/61/5 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The glide of single crystals of sodium and potassium' by Edward Neville Da Costa Andrade and L C Tsien | July 1937 |
| RR/64/34 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'Slip bands on mercury single crystals' by K M Greenland | [July 1937] |
| RR/64/35 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The critical shear stress of mercury single crystals' by K M Greenland | [July 1937] |
| RR/61/101 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The crystal structure of insulin. I. The investigation of air-dried insulin crystals' by Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin | December 1937 |
| RR/67/20 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The crystal structure of Rochelle salt (sodium potassium tartrate tetrahydrate NaKC4H4O6. 4H2O)' by C A Beevers and W Hughes | 1940 |
| RR/66/141 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'X -ray crystal analysis of trans-azobenzene' by J J De Lange, John Monteath Robertson and Ida Woodward | [March 1939] |
| RR/68/237 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The structure of graphite' by Henry Solomon Lipson and A R Stokes | [1942] |
| RR/72/88 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The effect of thermal cycles on the structure of alloys: diffusion effects in two phase alloys' by Roger John Davis and William Hume-Rothery | 1949 |
| RR/68/259 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'Structure and thermal properties of crystals. V. Thermal expansion of phthalocyanines and porphins' by Alfred Rene Jean Paul Ubbelohde and Ida Woodward | [1942] |
| RR/68/26 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'Molecular structure and rubber-like elasticity II. The stereochemistry of chain polymers' by Charles William Bunn | [1941] |
| RR/68/27 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'Molecular structure and rubber-like elasticity - III. Molecular movements in rubber-like polymers' by Charles William Bunn | [1941] |
| RR/68/268 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The reflexion of X-rays from the ‘anti-phase nuclei’ of AuCu3' by Arthur James Cochran Wilson | [1942] |
| RR/68/249 | Letter from John Desmond Bernal, to John David Griffith Davies, regarding a paper 'The crystal structure of 4:4'-dinitrodiphenyl [C12H8(NO2)2]' by J N Van Niekerk | 6 May 1942 |
| RR/69/204 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'Experiments on the inactivation of bacteriophage by radiations, and their bearing on the nature of bacteriophage' by D E Lea and M H Salaman | 1945 |
| RR/70/14 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The lattice spacings of solid solutions of different elements in aluminium' by H J Axon and William Hume-Rothery | 1947 |
| RR/71/71 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The structure and properties of the alloy Cu2MnIn' by Bryan Randell Coles, William Hume-Rothery and H P Myers | [1948] |
| NLB/70/551 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [John Desmond] Bernal Esq.; Royal Institution | 17 May 1927 |
| IM/000342 | Bernal, John Desmond | nd |
| EC/1937/01 | Bernal, John Desmond: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| HWT/24/6/29 | Correspondence and papers regarding exchanges, non observance by USSR of International Copyright Conventions and death of J D Bernal | September - October 1971 |
| IM/000346 | Bernal, John Desmond | 1935 |
| IM/000343 | Bernal, John Desmond | 1932 |
| RR/68/25 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'Molecular structure and rubber-like elasticity I. The crystal structures of ß gutta-percha, rubber and polychloroprene' by Charles William Bunn | [April 1941] |
| PB/4/9 | Chiefs of Staff Sub-Committee On Future Weapons | 1945 |
| PB/9/1/64 | Correspondence with Reginald Jones and others | 1960-1963 |
| MS/916 | Lecture notes by Gordon Elliott Fogg | 1938-1946 |
| RR/66/26 | Referee's report by William Henry Bragg, on a paper 'X-Ray crystallography and the chemistry of the steroids. Part I' by John Desmond Bernal, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin and I Fankuchen | [April 1940] |
| RR/66/25 | Referee's report by Ian Morris Heilbron, on a paper 'X-Ray crystallography and the chemistry of the steroids. Part I' by John Desmond Bernal, Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin and I Fankuchen | 15 May 1940 |
| NLB/66/878 | Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, FRS | 1 August 1924 |
| RR/61/88 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'Structure of stretched rubber' by C J B Clews and F Schoszberger | August 1937 |
| RR/64/74 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The measurement of particle size by the X-ray method' by Frederic Wood Jones | [November 1937] |
| RR/68/23 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on three papers 'Molecular structure and rubber-like elasticity I. The crystal structures of ß gutta-percha, rubber and polychloroprene', 'Molecular structure and rubber-like elasticity II. The stereochemistry of chain polymers' and 'Molecular structure and rubber-like elasticity - III. Molecular movements in rubber-like polymers' by Charles William Bunn | [1941] |
| RR/65/174 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'Evidence on spiral structure and chromosome pairing in osmunda regalis L' by Irene Manton | 1938 |
| RR/65/214 | Referee's report by John Desmond Bernal, on a paper 'The structure of the walls of parenchyma in avena coleoptiles' by Reginald Dawson Preston | March 1938 |