Isabel Ellie Knaggs

Knaggs studied chemistry at Girton College, now part of the University of Cambridge.
She obtained her PhD from Imperial College, London, in 1923.
She was the first to confirm the tetrahedral structure of carbon in organic molecules in 1927, by X-raying the explosive, pentaerythritol tetraacetate.
Credit for the tetrahedral structure was given to another scientist in 1937.
She also discovered that azide (N₃) groups in cyanuric triazide are linear and acted as an advisor to Burroughs Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline)

Image: © Elaine Mayer

Author: Anthonia Oluwatuyi

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