Catalogue description Papers of William Thomas Astbury (1898 - 1961)

The collection illustrates all aspects of Astbury's activities, with the exception of his work at the Royal Institution and earliest work at Leeds. The bulk of the documents represent the extensive scientific correspondence which he conducted with individual colleagues and learned societies, especially 1940-1957. This was often single-handed in the absence of secretarial help, as the letters themselves make clear. No records can be traced for the following periods: 1947 (all); 1949 (January-July), but the surviving letters, research plans and progress reports help to document the rapid progress of research in protein structure and nucleic acids during and after the 1939-45 War.

Contents

A. Biographical & Personal Files 1 - 18

B. University of Leeds & Department Files 1 - 42

C. Notebooks & Slides Files 1 - 6

D. Lectures & Publications Files 1 - 58

E. Scientific Correspondence Files 1-212

F. Conferences Files 1- 15

G. Committees & Societies Files 1- 27

Astbury kept his correspondence in large 'A.B.C.' files each covering roughly one year. The letters were usually arranged in alphabetical order by name of correspondent, but there were no personal or subject files, or cross-references, and the system itself was far from consistent and proved impossible to retain. All the documents have been re-sorted and assigned either to categories (e.g. Section B. Leeds University, Section D. Publications, Section F. Conferences), industrial firms, or individual correspondent. The scientific correspondence in Section E is presented in alphabetical order, with dates: see note on p.16.

Some scientific correspondence exchanged with Astbury 1933-40 remains in the personal papers of Professor C.D. Darlington FRS.

Astbury, William Thomas, 1898-1961, scientist and molecular biologist

The papers were received from Mr. W.F. Astbury (son), Fru M.M. Persson (daughter), and the Astbury Department of Biophysics, University of Leeds. Dr. Thomas Lonsdale has also contributed his recollections of Astbury's early work, and a photograph (Item A.6).

A full list of Astbury's honours and awards may be found in the Memoir by J.D. Bernal, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Vol.9, 1963, p.26.

• Molecular biology

b.1898 Longton, Stoke-on-Trent

educ. Longton High School

1917, 1919-21 Jesus College, Cambridge

1921-23 Demonstrator in Physics, University College, London, and Assistant to Sir William Bragg

1922 married Frances Gould

1923-28 Assistant to Sir William Bragg, Davy-Faraday Laboratory, Royal Institution, London

1928-37 Lecturer in Textile Physics, University of Leeds

1937-45 Reader in Textile Physics, University of Leeds

1940 Elected to Royal Society

1945-61 Professor of Biomolecular Structure and Hon. Reader in Textile Physics, University of Leeds