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50 years of biomolecular structure at Birkbeck: Bernal's legacy

Nature Structural Biology volume 6, pages 13–14 (1999)Cite this article

It has often been said that Sir Humphrey Davy's greatest scientific discovery was neither a theoretical insight nor a practical application, but the son of a blacksmith by the name of Michael Faraday. If we use this yardstick — not the work one does oneself but the people that one inspires — for measuring scientific greatness, then J.D. Bernal (1901–1971)ranks as one of the most significant scientists of this century (as he also does using almost any other yardstick you care to mention) .

On Thursday, November 26, a symposiumFootnote 1 was held the celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of Bernal's most productive inventions, the Biomolecular Structure Laboratory at Birkbeck College, London. The symposium brought back to the College a range of scientists who had been members of the Biomolecular Structure laboratory at various times in its 50 year history. Amongst the descriptions of their current research, reminiscences abounded.

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Figure 1: Bernal (far right) and colleagues on the steps of the original Biomolecular Structure Laboratory, 21-22 Torrington Square, London.
Figure 2

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  1. *To Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Biomolecular Structure Laboratory, Birkbeck College, November 26, 1998.

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    Christopher Surridge

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Surridge, C. 50 years of biomolecular structure at Birkbeck: Bernal's legacy. Nat Struct Mol Biol 6, 13–14 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/4879

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