The Braggs and Women Researchers

The research groups of both Braggs contained a remarkable number of women.9 Of W. H. Bragg s 18 students, 11 were women Elbe Knaggs (see below), Grace Mocatta, Kathleen Yardley (see below), Natalie Allen, Thora Marwick, Lucy Pickett, Helen Gilchrist (see Chap. 7), Berta Karlik, M. E. Bowland, Ida Woodward, and Constance Elam (Mrs. Tipper). 

Why was crystallography such an attractive field for women One viewpoint is that the Braggs and their crystallographic heirs provided a women-friendly environment. Anne Sayre, spouse of crystallographer David Sayre, is convinced that, at least in crystallography, it was the nonaggressive and friendly attitudes of the supervisors that were so vital to the encouragement of women  

There is something in the ancient history of crystallography that is hard to isolate but nevertheless was there, that I can best describe as modesty. I have often wondered how much the Braggs were responsible for the unaggressive low-key friendly 

A less charitable view of why women chose crystallography has been taken by Franklin Portugal and Jack Cohen, who used the laborious nature of crystallography to explain the number of women in the field  

Since the high speed computer had not yet been invented, the business of calculating data was a very laborious occupation and smart fellows who could find other things to do would generally do them, unless they were absolutely dedicated to the business of X-ray crystallography. Is it possible that these first class women got to be X-ray crystallographers because they were willing to do this work 13 

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