Dear diary
Entry 3 - bringing models into the light
By Dr Rupert Cole, Associate Curator of Chemistry at the Science Museum
Earlier this month I was excited to see a chemistry object coming out of store-room hibernation, and into the light of gallery display.
The object is an atomic model of a silicate (silicon and oxygen) structure, made by pioneering crystallographer Kathleen Lonsdale from table tennis balls.
Displaying objects often has some useful by-products. In this case, it prompted new research into our Lonsdale collection.
The opportunity for its display came when another object, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin’s model of penicillin, was chosen to leave its current spot for a new home in the Science Museum’s forthcoming Medicine Galleries.
The vacant spot was in our Making the Modern World gallery – on a mezzanine walkway display featuring a chronology of models representing themes in science and technology over 250 years.
Filling gaps
We needed a like-for-like replacement in a molecular model. As another important crystallographer and advocate for women in science, Lonsdale was the obvious candidate.
But there was a further challenge. The gap in the walkway’s chronology was 1945-1949. While it is good to have reasons to narrow down a selection, the majority of the circa 120 objects in the Lonsdale collection carry the imprecise date range of 1930-1970.
Happily for us, we were able to draw upon the expertise of Jenny Wilson, who recently carried out for her PhD the first scholarly study of Lonsdale and her career.
Jenny narrowed down our search to five models made from table tennis balls. Lonsdale made these as aids to teach her University College London students about the structure of silicate groups. She began her UCL teaching in 1946.
Completing the jigsaw
Lonsdale’s 1948 book, Crystals and X-rays, included diagrams showing the structure of the silicates, which gave us a good reason to assume the models were made around this time.
The models had been stored in one box along with corresponding labels, handwritten by Lonsdale on now-dried-out and extremely fragile x-ray film.
There was now an opportunity to catalogue each model and label fully. This involved the tricky task of fitting label fragments together like a jigsaw and matching descriptions to the correct model.
After a fair amount of time with colleagues working out what model went with what label, we discovered Lonsdale had helped us. The silicate formulas were pencilled on the inside of each model.
The model we picked was the silicate structure found inside minerals such as aquamarine and emerald. But the others need not feel too jealous, as they will soon have digital presence on our collection online website – a result of their sibling going on display.
But why did Lonsdale choose to make her models from table tennis balls?
She was in fact a keen player. During her time at the Royal Institution, she played matches in the basement with her fellow researchers.
If you have interest in helping to document and make accessible our chemistry collections, the Science Museum is now recruiting a small team of volunteers to help catalogue circa 1,500 pieces of chemical glassware.
Find about more and how to apply here.
