Helen Dick Megaw 1907 - 2002

occupation:
Crystallographer
Nationality:
Irish
born in:
Dublin, Dublin, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland
Made:
Huddersfield and Cambridge

1934 - worked on ‘heavy’ and ‘normal’ ice structure in Antarctic. 'Megaw Island' named for her work.

1934 - awarded PhD at Cambridge, research student under J D Bernal, alongside Dorothy Crowfoot (later Hodgkin)

1943 - at Philips Lamps Ltd, Mitcham, worked out the crystal structure of barium titanate.

1946 - appointed to Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, where she remained for rest of scientific career. Was present when Francis Crick and James Watson worked out double helix structure of DNA.

1951 - scientific consultant to Festival Pattern Group, was responsible for providing a number of crystal structure diagrams to the Council of Industrial Design.