What does crystallography mean?
Crystallography is the branch of science devoted to studying crystals — solids whose atoms, ions, or molecules are arranged in an orderly, repeating pattern extending in all three dimensions. Its central concern is determining exactly how those particles are arranged, which scientists achieve most often by directing X-rays at a crystal and analysing how the rays diffract, or scatter, off its internal planes of atoms. From this data researchers can reconstruct a detailed three-dimensional map of the molecule or mineral under study. Crystallography is indispensable across chemistry, physics, mineralogy, and structural biology: it revealed the structure of table salt and diamond, confirmed the double helix of DNA, and continues to guide the design of new drugs and materials. The word carries a distinctly formal, scholarly register and is used mainly within academic and professional settings. A specialist who practises it is called a crystallographer, and related terms include the adjective 'crystallographic' and the adverb 'crystallographically'.
nounThe scientific study of crystals and their structure, especially the arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules within crystalline solids as determined by methods such as X-ray diffraction.
- The branch of science concerned with the formation, properties, and internal structure of crystals.
- Specifically, the determination of the three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in a crystal, chiefly through X-ray, electron, or neutron diffraction techniques.
"Rosalind Franklin's expertise in crystallography was essential to revealing the double-helix structure of DNA."
"Advances in crystallography allowed chemists to determine the exact three-dimensional shape of penicillin."
"She completed her doctorate in crystallography before joining the laboratory's structural biology group."
Rarely used; 'crystallography' is typically treated as an uncountable field of study, though the plural may appear when referring to several distinct branches or historical traditions of the discipline.
"Modern textbooks survey both classical optical crystallographies and contemporary diffraction-based approaches."
Nearly every known protein structure — and every Nobel Prize won with one — rests on crystallography, the science that lets us photograph molecules by bouncing X-rays off them.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crystallography
Crystallography derives from the Greek 'krystallos', meaning clear ice or rock crystal, combined with 'graphein', meaning to write or draw, so the word literally suggests 'writing about crystals'. The compound was formed on the pattern of earlier '-graphy' sciences such as geography and photography. It emerged as a named discipline in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when naturalists began systematically classifying the external forms of minerals, and was transformed in the early twentieth century after Max von Laue's 1912 discovery of X-ray diffraction in crystals enabled scientists to see inside them. It shares its roots with words such as crystalline and crystallize, and belongs to the large family of '-graphy' fields denoting descriptive or investigative sciences.
Related word forms
How crystallography is actually used
A formal, technical term used almost exclusively in scientific and academic contexts. In everyday writing it is rare outside discussions of chemistry, physics, mineralogy, and structural biology. The practitioner-specific form 'crystallographer' denotes someone who works in the field. The adjective 'crystallographic' is common in technical literature.
Easily confused with crystallography
Crystallography studies the atomic arrangement of crystals using diffraction; chromatography is a technique for separating mixtures of substances.