In 1951, a new dawn of British innovation and culture was signalled by the morale-boosting Festival of Britain, a government ploy to inspire the redevelopment of the country following the end of the Second World War. One of the many new ideas exhibited was a selection of designs created from X-ray crystallography images, a revolutionary step to unite science and art. An X-ray diffraction pattern is produced by firing a beam of X-rays at a crystal; the atoms in the crystal diffract the X-ray according to how they are arranged (see p. 21). The resultant pattern can be used to calculate the structure of the crystal and it is these crystal structures that inspired the designs for the exhibition.
In 1946, crystallographer Dr Helen Megaw, drawn by the appeal of these attractive images, first proposed that crystal structures should be used as commercial designs. A group was formed, called the Festival Pattern Group, to produce 80 designs in a wealth of formats, to be displayed at the Festival of Britain, with the long-term vision that they should be mass-produced. However, this latter hope never came to fruition, and it was therefore a real treat to be able to see the original designs and diversity of products at the Wellcome Exhibition in London in 2008. I have selected a few of my favourite images from the collection, to give a glimpse into an unprecedented and unrepeated cultural experiment. While some expressed concerns about the popularity of the designs given their origins, it seems a great pity that the idea never took off, and this delightful glimpse into the work of the Festival Pattern Group shows that the idea of cohesion between art and science is not so incredible as many think.
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