Dame Kathleen Lonsdale (née Yardley)

Sitter in 7 portraits
Lonsdale discovered new X-ray techniques to study crystal structure and was able to demonstrate for the first time the hexagonal arrangement of carbon atoms in the molecules of benzene compounds. In 1924 she joined William Henry Bragg's research team at University College London. In 1945 she was one of the first two women, alongside biochemist Marjory Stephenson, to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. This achievement was followed in 1949 by becoming the first woman to become professor of Chemistry at University College, London, where she established the Crystallography department. Lonsdale also applied her experience as a crystallographer to the study of medical conditions including bladder stones.