Astbury's Apparatus
When Astbury began working on X-ray diffraction under the elder Bragg, he was trained to use their ionisation spectrometer for detecting he diffraction patterns. As the structures he was analysing became more complex, it was clear that photographic methods were preferable and he had to devise his own techniques, developing a number of extremely simple fibre cameras to take photographs of fibre in its natural state and when it was stretched. He would be responsible for constructing his own apparatus throughout his career. He also refined methods of interpretation and analysis of photographs, which was needed to obtain results from the indistinct, blurred patterns produced by the X-ray techniques. The X-ray apparatus itself could only be used by trained professionals; it was highly specialised and ‘exacting to run’. [33]
Obtaining X-ray apparatus
Astbury, and his team, constructed all of their own X-ray cameras [14] from equipment, obtained from a variety of sources, which could be difficult to acquire, particularly during and after the war. Astbury ordered a valve from Philips in July 1940 and did not receive it until a year later; by the end of that October it had broken. In 1941, he wrote to Philips about his problems, declaring that ‘if natural wear-and-tear continue without replacement I suppose it is only a question of time before we almost cease to take X-ray photographs’ [25].
(A picture of the new model of Philips gauge, ‘Cold Cathode Philips Ionisation Gauge Model 2’, ordered by Astbury [26])
In 1944, a meeting was held at Mrs Hodgkin’s to discuss post-war plans for X-ray crystallography. William Astbury, Lawrence Bragg and J.D. Bernal (among others) were present. Several topics of discussion concerned apparatus: whether more powerful equipment was needed; sources of funding; complaints that manufacturers wouldn’t make scientific instruments because there was no profit in them. [29]
Astbury's Role
Astbury made great contributions to X-ray apparatus, with his creation of an integrating photometer, and his work on designing more powerful X-ray tubes:
The work of Astbury (and his team) on constructing and using X-ray apparatus did not go unnoticed. Both scientists and industrialists were interested, and visitors were numerous [24]. In a 1948 letter to Astbury, Weaver, at the Rockefeller foundation, referred to Leeds as the ‘X-ray Vatican’. [10]
Beyond X-rays
Although X-ray analysis was undoubtedly an integral part of Astbury’s work, it was clear even to him that X-rays alone could not completely discover the structure of proteins. He explains this in a letter to Rosalind Franklin, after she suggested that she could use X-rays on the fibrinogen-fibrin problem. [6]
Alongside X-ray analysis, Astbury studied the physical and chemical properties of biological fibres, utilising (in his early days at Leeds) the hundreds of studies made by Speakman on the physico-chemical properties of hair and wool. In 1941, he wrote to Kenneth Bailey of his desperation for ‘essential chemical data’ [17].
After the war, two more instruments became important in the study of molecular structure. These were the Electron Microscope and the Infra-Red Spectrometer.