Lonsdale, Dame Kathleen (1903-1971), was an Irish-born chemist who, in 1968, became the first woman president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Lonsdale’s scientific specialty was X-ray crystallography, the use of X rays to determine the arrangement of atoms that make up crystals.
Kathleen Yardley was born on Jan. 28, 1903, in Newbridge, near Dublin. In 1924, she received an M.Sc. degree from University College of the University of London. Until 1927, she worked as a research assistant at the Royal Institution in London.
In 1927, she married a fellow research student, Thomas Lonsdale, and moved to Leeds University. She received a D.Sc. degree from University College in 1936. In 1949, she became a professor of chemistry and head of the department of crystallography at University College. In 1956, she received the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Dame Kathleen became the first woman vice president of the Royal Society, one of the world’s leading scientific organizations, in 1960. She died on April 1, 1971.
