In 1912, Max von Laue proposed that X-rays, if they were waves of a wavelength comparable to the spacing between atoms in a crystal, should diffract when passed through one, and his colleagues Walter Friedrich and Paul Knipping fired an X-ray beam through a copper sulfate crystal and captured the predicted pattern of spots on a photographic plate. The result proved simultaneously that X-rays are electromagnetic waves and that crystals are periodic arrays of atoms, and opened the door to determining crystal structures directly from their diffraction patterns.
Facts
MethodSourced to the subject's own accountOn Von Laue's 1912 proposal that X-rays should diffract through a crystal if their wavelength matched the atomic spacing, Walter Friedrich and Paul Knipping shone a beam of X-rays through a copper sulfate crystal and recorded the result on a photographic plate. 2 Key FindingSourced to the subject's own accountThe plate showed a regular pattern of well-defined diffraction spots, proving simultaneously that X-rays are waves and that crystals are periodic arrays of atoms, and opening the door to determining crystal structure from diffraction patterns. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
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