In 1912, a German physicist named Max Von Laue became interested in the way that light and crystals interacted with each other. He realized that the regular arrangement of atoms in crystals should provide about the right spacing (about 10^-10 m) to produce an interference pattern on a photographic plate when X rays pass through such a crystal. He knew that the light must have a short enough wavelength in order to create a diffraction pattern from the crystal. He used an X-ray generator to do this and sure enough the x-rays were diffracted by the crystal, but the resulting pattern was of no use because there could be no data obtained from it. Later, an X-ray Diffractometer was created to further study the interaction patterns between light and crystalline structures. A crystal was grown and was placed on a platform. X-rays were aimed at the rotating crystal and the resulting "powder pattern" was studied. This gave a much clearer understanding of the relationship between light and crystals. Slowly, scientists learned how to interpret the results to determine the structure.

With the recent development of the computer and other emerging technologies of the time, the ability to determine the structure has become a relatively easy process. X-ray Crystallography has come a long way since the 1910's when the idea was first discovered, and has become an essential technique that is used in every day scientific applications around the world.

 

X-RAYS  - HISTORY  - MAX VON LAUE  - WILLIAM H. BRAGG  - WILLIAM L. BRAGG  - PRINCIPLES

 

 

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