I was saddened to hear of the death of Bill Astbury, whose ceaseless support & enthusiasm for my research into his grandfather, the textile physicist and pioneer of molecular biology William T Astbury was always such an inspiration. Our paths first crossed when Bill was working as a children’s storyteller at Headingley Library in Leeds, displaying a talent and passion which was apparent in the memories of his grandfather that he kindly shared with me over the years when I was writing my book ‘The Man in the Monkeynut Coat.’ Thanks so much for all you did, Bill – I couldn’t have written it without you. You’ll be missed.
It may just look like a lead box with a few sides missing, but don’t be fooled – this is a piece of science history. It’s actually a camera – but one that uses X-rays instead of visible light, and on Sat 13th July I explained to visitors from the Clothworkers Company how, using this equipment, physicist William Astbury made X-ray studies of the molecular structure of wool fibres that led him and his colleage Florence Bell to take the first X-ray images of DNA fibres.
X-ray camera used by William Astbury and Florence Bell. With kind thanks to Dr. Mike Finn of the Museum for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine,University of Leeds
The visit celebrated the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Yorkshire College of Science in 1874, which eventually became the University of Leeds. First founded nearly 500 years ago, the Clothworkers Company provided invaluable financial support for both the establishment of the Yorkshire College of Science, and later for Astbury’s post as Lecturer in Textile Physics. I’d like to thank them for their enthusiasm & interest in learning how, with their funding and support, wool helped weave a path to double helix and resulted in today’s Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology! (Accompanied by visual aids of bead necklace from Headingley charity shop to illustrate molecular structure of proteins!)
Plaque on the Textiles Department at the University of Leeds commemorating the support of the Clothworkers Company in the founding of the Yorkshire College of Science in 1874.
