BRAGG, W.H. & W.L. BRAGG. - X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY.

The Structure of the Diamond. Received July 30, 1913.

(London, 1913). Later blank wrapper. Extracted from "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London", vol. 89 A, 1913. Pp. 277-291, 12 textfigures.

First appearance of one of the first "fruits" of the Bragg's invention of the X-Ray Crystallography, the determination of the crystal structure of diamond. The Braggs (father and son) shared the Nobel Prize for physics in 1915 for their study of crystal structure by means of X-rays.

"The potential of X-ray crystallography for determining the structure of molecules and minerals - then only known vaguely from chemical and hydrodynamic experiments - was realized immediately (after the finds of von Laue). The earliest structures were simple inorganic crystals and minerals, but even these revealed fundamental laws of physics and chemistry. The first atomic-resolution structure to be "solved" (i.e. determined) in 1914 was that of table salt.The distribution of electrons in the table-salt structure showed that crystals are not necessarily composed of covalently bonded molecules, and proved the existence of ionic compounds. The structure of diamond was solved in the same year, proving the tetrahedral arrangement of its chemical bonds and showing that the length of C-C single bond was 1.52 angstroms."(Wikipedia).

Order-nr.: 44782