From X-ray diffraction to the structure of DNA
On the eve of the First World War, William Lawrence Bragg studies the structure of crystalline networks using X-rays. The International Scientific Committee decides to give 1,250 Belgian francs (i.e. about 330,460 Belgian francs or 8,200 euros in 2017) to William Lawrence Bragg, 6000 francs (i.e. about 2,382,900 Belgian francs or 59,130 euros in 2017) to Johannes Stark for his research on the splitting of spectral lines due to an electric field (the Stark effect) and a supplement of 1,000 Belgian francs (i.e. about 264,960 Belgian francs or 6,570 euros in 2017) to Max von Laue.
Forty years later, the support given to William Lawrence Bragg has an impact that no one could have foreseen: two researchers, Francis Crick et James Watson, determine in his laboratory the double-helix structure of a DNA molecule thanks to a technique developed in 1914 with the financial support of the International Solvay Institute for Physics.
