The Logic of Crystals – William T. Astbury & Kathleen Yardley’s Space-group Diagrams

230 Space-Groups - William T. Astbury & Kathleen YardleyPlate from Tabulated Data for the Examination of the 230 Space-Groups by Homogeneous X-Rays – William T. Astbury & Kathleen Yardley [1924]

William T. Astbury and Kathleen Yardley’s 230 Space-group diagrams, published in 1924, form a complete notation of all possible atomic lattice configurations in crystals (not including quasi-crystals). The figures formed the basis for what eventually became the International Tables for X-ray Crystallography. A crystal is three-dimensional tessellation of ‘unit-cells’. Each cell is a fundamental pattern of atoms or molecules repeated, rotated, folded. Depending on its symmetry, the unit cell of any given crystal can be classified according to one of those 230 space groups.

Deciphering these geometric sigils, without fundamental knowledge of their crystallographic logic, may be tricky but the plates have a rigorous aesthetic that stands up by itself. Non textual oblique strategists may already be mapping these tridimensional diagrams to create irrational marriages; for rendering micro-crystalline morse-code music or for use as guides to direct their psychogeographical drifts. The 230 space-diagrams designed to navigate crystal space might also be used to negotiate space taxonomies of other kinds.

230 Space-Groups - William T. Astbury & Kathleen YardleyPlate from Tabulated Data for the Examination of the 230 Space-Groups by Homogeneous X-Rays – William T. Astbury & Kathleen Yardley [1924]

Well aware of hidden language of crystals, Shea Zellweger employed their lattice configurations as a model for his Logic Alphabet – ‘a set of symbols that systematically represents the sixteen possible binary truth functions of logic’. Zellweger arranged the letter-shapes according to the structure of a crystal so that their interrelating symmetries could more easily visualised and manipulated.

230 Space-Groups - William T. Astbury & Kathleen YardleyPlate from Tabulated Data for the Examination of the 230 Space-Groups by Homogeneous X-Rays – William T. Astbury & Kathleen Yardley [1924]

230 Space-Groups - William T. Astbury & Kathleen YardleyPlate from Tabulated Data for the Examination of the 230 Space-Groups by Homogeneous X-Rays – William T. Astbury & Kathleen Yardley [1924]

230 Space-Groups - William T. Astbury & Kathleen YardleyPlate from Tabulated Data for the Examination of the 230 Space-Groups by Homogeneous X-Rays – William T. Astbury & Kathleen Yardley [1924]

230 Space-Groups - William T. Astbury & Kathleen YardleyPlate from Tabulated Data for the Examination of the 230 Space-Groups by Homogeneous X-Rays – William T. Astbury & Kathleen Yardley [1924]

230 Space-Groups - William T. Astbury & Kathleen YardleyPlate from Tabulated Data for the Examination of the 230 Space-Groups by Homogeneous X-Rays – William T. Astbury & Kathleen Yardley [1924]

230 Space-Groups - William T. Astbury & Kathleen YardleyPlate from Tabulated Data for the Examination of the 230 Space-Groups by Homogeneous X-Rays – William T. Astbury & Kathleen Yardley [1924]

230 Space-Groups - William T. Astbury & Kathleen YardleyPlate from Tabulated Data for the Examination of the 230 Space-Groups by Homogeneous X-Rays – William T. Astbury & Kathleen Yardley [1924]

Inspired by X-ray crystallography, and under the direction of Helen Megaw (a crystallographer who determined the structure of the ice crystal), the Festival Pattern Group developed textiles based on the atomic lattice of insulin, china clay, and hemoglobin for the Festival of Britain in 1951. In 2008, the Wellcome Collection, in London, curated an exhibition on the Festival Pattern Group called ‘From Atom to Patterns’.

Further Reading:
Logic Alphabet Project – Shea Zellweger

Related Posts:
The Melodies and Megaliths of Pseudocrystalline Terrains

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