12 Facts About Helen Megaw

Helen Megaw made measurements of the cell dimensions of ice and established the Perovskite crystal structure.

Helen Megaw was educated at first at Alexandra College in Dublin, and then briefly at Methodist College in Belfast after the family moved back there in 1921, and finally at the Roedean School in England.

Helen Megaw spent a year at Queen's University, Belfast before moving to Girton College, Cambridge to study Natural Sciences in 1926.

Helen Megaw graduated in 1930 and was a research student in crystallography under JD Bernal.

In 1935 Helen Megaw co-published with Bernal an influential method for fixing the position of hydrogen atoms known as the Bernal-Helen Megaw model.

In 1945 Helen Megaw returned to working with Bernal, now at Birkbeck College in London, for a year before taking a post at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge.

Helen Megaw became a Fellow and Director of Studies at Girton.

Helen Megaw retired in 1972 and divided her time between Cambridge and Ballycastle, County Antrim, where she died in 2002.

Helen Megaw became the prime scientific mover in the group which put crystallographic images in the hands of industrial designers for them to use in products which were displayed at the Festival and in some cases beyond.

In 1976, Helen Megaw gave a collection of fabric samples from the Festival of Britain along with a souvenir guide-book to the Science Museum in London.

In 1989, Helen Megaw became the first woman to receive the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America.

Helen Megaw had honorary doctorates from the Universities of Cambridge and Queen's University Belfast.