Bernal, John Desmond (1901-1971)

Irish scientist, who developed modern x-ray crystallography and helped pioneer the field of molecular biology, especially through his work on the structure of water. Most of his academic career was spent as professor of physics, and later crystallography, at Birkbeck College, London (1937-68). Bernal was an ardent communist, and embraced the pseudoscientific theories of the Soviet biologist Trofim Denisovich Lysenko.

Born in Nenagh, County Tipperary, Bernal was educated by Jesuits at Stonyhurst College, Lancashire, and won a scholarship to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. After graduating, he was appointed to a lectureship at Cambridge before moving to London. During the debate between supporters of genetics and the Lysenkoists (who believed in ‘acquired characteristics’), Bernal's distinguished fellow scientist and communist J B S Haldane left the Party in protest, while Bernal's political loyalty overrode his scientific judgment. During World War II, he was a scientific advisor to Lord Mountbatten, and undertook research on munitions and on support for the D-Day landings, as well as working on an abortive scheme to create artificial icebergs for use as aircraft carriers.

Bernal's major works include The Social Function of Science 1939, Marx and Science 1952, and The Origin of Life 1967.