Title: Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, (1902-1971)
Scientist, Pacifist, and Prison Reformer
Speaker: Dr. Maureen M. Julian
photo: Kathleen Lonsdale provided by Maureen Juliann
photo: Maureen Julian and the late Carl Julian (credit K. Julian)
photo: Maureen Julian Crossped (credit K. Julian)
At the Montauk Library on Sunday July 20 at 3:00, crystallographer Dr. Maureen Julian will discuss the life and work of her mentor, Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, (1902-1971) a brilliant scientist whose research as well as her courage changed the world.
Born in County Kildare, Ireland, Kathleen Lonsdale was educated in England where she earned her Doctorate in Science from University of London. Despite a pervasive bias in that era against women scientists –– particularly those who were married — Lonsdale’s research was so outstanding that she would become internationally lauded for her work in the field of crystallography.
During World War II, she was one of the first pacifists to serve jail time at the Holloway Prison for Women which led her to initiate a worldwide crusade for prison reform. Kathleen Lonsdale’s numerous awards and distinctions include being created a Dame of the British Empire.
Speaker: Maureen O’Donnell Julian received her A.B. in physics and mathematics from Hunter College and earned her Ph.D. at Cornell University in crystallography. As a post-doctorate Senior Research Fellow at University College, London, she worked closely with Dame Kathleen Lonsdale who became her mentor.
As a member of the faculty of Virginia Tech’s Department of Materials Sciences, Dr. Juiian developed her popular Foundations of Crystallography textbooks which are used worldwide. A long-time Montauk summer resident Maureen has accumulated many miles of walking at Ditch Plains Beach.