Pre-1962

This extract from 50 Years of X-ray Diffraction, edited by P. P. Ewald and published in 1962, recounts the early development of crystallography in this region.

Austria

The first serious attempt at establishing structure analysis seems to have been made by Prof. Fr. Raaz of the Department of Mineralogy of the University in Vienna. Raaz had been studying the subject with Rinne and Schiebold in Leipzig and used Seemann equipment in 1929. Before that, from 1927 onwards, F. Halla and M. C. Neuburger used the powder method for studying metal oxides, alloys, and the lattice constants of metals at the Department for Physical and Inorganic Chemistry of the Technical University in Vienna. A considerable amount of work on light and X-ray scattering was done at the First Chemical Institute of the University of Vienna while H. Mark had the chair there (1932-38) in connection with the nature of liquids and of high-polymers. The mineralogical department, now under Prof. F. Machatschki, and the chemical department of the university are still the centres of Austrian structure analysis. O. Kratky in Graz together with G. Porod devoted much work to the technique and interpretation of small-angle scattering by colloids and high-polymers. The main industrial laboratory using X-ray diffraction is that of the Planseewerke in Reuthe which specialize in powder metallurgy.

First published for the International Union of Crystallography 1962 by N.V.A. Oosthoek's Uitgeversmaatschappij, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Digitised 1999 for the IUCr XVIII Congress, Glasgow, Scotland
© 1962, 1999 International Union of Crystallography