XRay Crystallography might seem like an obscure, even unheard of field of research; however structural analysis has played a part in almost every major scientific field since its discovery 100 years ago by William Henry, and William Lawrence Bragg.

In this Friday Evening Discourse at the Royal Institution, Professor Stephen Curry charts the discovery and development of this extraordinary technique, starting with a simple explanation of diffraction, moving through the integral work of the Braggs, and ending with the cutting edge uses that XRay Crystallography has found in the modern world.

This film is part of the Crystallography Collection: a series of short films produced by the Ri Channel, with the support of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), celebrating the 100th anniversary of the discovery of XRay Crystallography by the Braggs

Read Stephen Curry's blog post about this event: http://rigb.org/blog/2013/november/st...

The Ri is on Twitter:   / ri_science  
and Facebook:   / royalinstitution  
and Tumblr:   / riscience  
Our editorial policy: http://www.rigb.org/home/editorialpo...
Subscribe for the latest science videos: http://bit.ly/RiNewsletter