File:John_Desmond_Bernal.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
John Desmond Bernal
Sign in to saveAlso known as Desmond Bernal, J. D. Bernal, John Bernal
Irish scientist (1901-1971)
OverviewAI-generated
John Desmond Bernal was a male physicist, philosopher, inventor, and university teacher who held citizenship in the United Kingdom. He was educated at Emmanuel College, the University of Cambridge, and the Royal Institution. His professional career included positions at the Birkbeck, University of London, the Cavendish Laboratory, and the Royal Institution. He worked in the fields of biophysics, science studies, physics, and natural science, and spoke English.
Bernal was a member of the Royal Society, the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and the Romanian Academy. He received the Royal Medal, the International Stalin Prize for Peace, and the Royal Society Bakerian Medal, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics. His doctoral advisor was William Henry Bragg, and he supervised doctoral students including Dorothy Hodgkin, Max Perutz, and Helen Megaw.
Born in Nenagh in 1901, Bernal died in Camden Town, London, in 1971. He was the father of Martin Bernal. His work is recognized in the Royal Society collection and described by Pax Leksikon. He authored three works under the name John Desmond Bernal.
Synthesized by Vinony from 25 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
In the Vinony graph
Vinony catalogs John Desmond Bernal in its Fellows of the Royal Society collection (9,360 entries).
Vinony's link graph records 215 inbound references to John Desmond Bernal, and connects out to World War II, Marxism and Lysenkoism.
Vinony files it under 1901 births, 1971 deaths and 20th-century British physicists.
Vinony links it to 41 Wikipedia language editions.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 3
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- ( 1901-05-10 ) 10 May 1901, Nenagh , County Tipperary , Ireland
- Died
- 15 September 1971 (1971-09-15) (aged 70), London, England
- Resting place
- Battersea Cemetery, Morden (unmarked)
- Education
- Bedford School
- Alma mater
- University of Cambridge
- Known for
- Bernal chart , Bernal sphere , Bernal stacking , Bernal–Fowler rules , Zone melting
- Spouse
- Agnes Eileen Sprague ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1922 )
- Children
- 4, including Martin
- Awards
- Royal Medal (1945), Guthrie lecture (1947), Stalin Peace Prize (1953), Grotius Gold Medal (1959), Bakerian Lecture (1962)
- Fields
- X-ray crystallography
- Institutions
- Birkbeck College, University of London
- Doctoral advisor
- William Henry Bragg
- Doctoral students
- Dorothy Hodgkin Alan Mackay Max Perutz Alexander F. Wells
- Allegiance
- United Kingdom
- Branch
- Royal Navy
- Service years
- 1944–1945
- Rank
- Lieutenant ( RNVR )
- Conflicts
- Second World War Operation Overlord Normandy landings
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- John
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom
- Place of birth
- Nenagh
- Place of death
- London
- Child
- Martin Bernal
- Occupation
- naturalist
- Educated at
- Royal Institution
- Employer
- Royal Institution
- Political party
- Communist Party of Great Britain
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Religion
- atheism
- Doctoral advisor
- William Henry Bragg
- Student of
- William Lawrence Bragg
- Doctoral student
- Helen Megaw
- Field of work
- philosophy of science
- Conflict
- World War II
- Military rank
- lieutenant
Show 9 more facts
- date of birth
- 1901-05-10
- date of death
- 1971-09-15
- described by source
- Pax Leksikon
- nominated for
- Nobel Prize in Physics
- Commons category
- John Desmond Bernal
- student
- Alan Lindsay Mackay
- name in native language
- John Desmond Bernal
- professorship
- professor
via Wikidata · CC0
~21 min read
Encyclopedic overview
John Desmond Bernal FRS (/bərˈnɑːl/; 10 May 1901 – 15 September 1971) was an Irish scientist who pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography in molecular biology. He published extensively on the history of science. In addition, Bernal wrote popular books on science and society. He was a communist activist and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB).
Education and early life
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “John Desmond Bernal” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.