1913-1914: the First Truly International Year of Crystallography

Abstract

It is appropriate that 2014 has been chosen as the International Year of Crystallography since it was a century ago that crystallography as we know it emerged as a truly international science. The pattern becomes clearer if one considers academic years starting on September 1. Thus 1911-1912, when the first successful diffraction experiments were carried out, becomes the German year of crystallography. With the statement of Bragg's Law and the first structure determinations, 1912-1913 can be called the British year of crystallography. By late 1913 our science had achieved truly international scope, demonstrated by publications describing advances in experimental design, theory and structure determination emanating from France, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia and Switzerland as well as Germany and Britain. While many countries worked on the first two areas, structure determination was done mainly in Britain (dominated by the Braggs) and Japan (to a limited extent). In the belligerent countries this magnificent flowering was sadly curtailed by the outbreak of World War I. However, at about this time the United States entered the field. The international spread followed by curtailment is readily visualised when presented in the form of a timeline.