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Rubbing Shoulders With Giants – the Scientific Odyssey of Prof. Tony North

In 1913, after working for long hours in a freezing cold laboratory on Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, father and son physicists William and Lawrence Bragg made a ground-breaking discovery for which they received the Nobel Prize in Physics two years later. Their development of X-ray crystallography, a method which uses the scattering of X-rays to reveal the atomic arrangement of crystals, not only transformed our understanding of matter but also opened up an exciting new field of research in which a generation of young scientists went on to make a name for themselves.

One of these was Professor Tony North (seen below) who, early in his career, was part of a groundbreaking team that successfully used this method to reveal the structure of lysozyme – the first enzyme ever to have its 3D molecular shape solved.

Kersten Hall in conversation with Professor Tony North at event hosted by Leeds Phil and Lit Society earlier this year

In a conversation hosted by Leeds Phil and Lit earlier this year, Tony shared his recollections of this memorable journey, recounting his role in pioneering the application of computing to solving biological structures (which has today led to powerful tools such as the Nobel Prize-winning AlphaFold), as well as the distinguished people he met along the way, several of whom – such as Max Perutz and Dorothy Hodgkin – won Nobel Prizes for their work in this field. Tony’s story which, alongside cutting edge science such as X-ray crystallography and biocomputing also involved a crucial trip to Hamley’s toy shop in London all in the service of science…can be heard here.

What Has Wool Ever Done For Us…?

Apart from clothing us, weaving a path to unravelling structure of DNA & helping forge the science of molecular biology??? Looking forward to hearing Monica Stenzel from the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds explain all this eve in her talk ‘Fuzzy Logic: History of Wool Science in Leeds’ to the Thoresby Society

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/thoresby-society?mc_cid=d19c875f2d&mc_eid=ac35265fcd

Litterbag Sisyphus

Sisyphus and his boulder have become something of a theme of late – whilst writing about him for new book on the discovery of DNA that I’ve been working on, it struck me that all the volunteers in our area of Leeds who go out on a regular basis and pull discarded drinks cans and bottles from hedges to fill bulging purple bags as part of Leeds City Council’s #LitterFreeLeeds scheme face a similar Sisyphean task. Inspired by this thought, I had a little play on an AI image generator, and here’s what it came up with…

Sisyphus from Greek mythology struggling to push a bulging bag of litter up a mountain of discarded drinks cans and bottles

It’s Electron Microscopy, Jim – But Not As We Know It…

For moment, I thought I was on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise …but no, it was actually the launch of Leeds Electron Microscopy & Spectroscopy Centre (LEMAS) at the University of Leeds Bragg Centre for Materials Research. We’ve come a long way since 1943 when textile physicist and pioneer of molecular biology William Astbury first installed an electron microscope in the toilets of the Textiles Deptartment at the University of Leeds!

Powerful electron microscopes at LEMAS centre, University of Leeds with slide detailing history of electron microscopy at Leeds in the background
Physicist William Astbury peers down one of the very first electron microscopes to arrive in the UK, in 1943
Physicist William Astbury peers down one of the very first electron microscopes to arrive in the UK, in 1943
Powerful electron microscopes at LEMAS - Leeds Electron Microscopy and Spectroscopy Centre
Powerful electron microscopes at LEMAS – Leeds Electron Microscopy and Spectroscopy Centre