If there were a list of the most important chemicals known, it'd certainly include benzine.
You'll recognise its aroma as a distinctive component of petrol in which it's used to boost the octane rating.
Otherwise, it's an intermediate to make a very wide range of other chemicals. Two thirds of all chemicals on the American Chemical Society's catalogue contains at least one benzene ring.
It's used to make plastics, synthetic rubber, drugs, insecticides, and is a good solvent.
Benzine has been known since the 16th century and was first isolated by Michael Faraday in 1825.
While the chemistry of benzine was fairly well understood, the structure wasn't certain until Kathleen Lonsdale pioneered the use of X-rays to probe its inner structure.
In 1865, chemist August Keuklé had a dream in which he saw benzene atoms dancing around into a serpent swallowing its own tail.
While that provided an insight into benzine (and into the function of dreaming*), it wouldn't pass as scientific evidence.
Then, in 1929, Lonsdale was able to prove that the benzene molecule is in fact a flat ring. August Keuklé would've been pleased to see that looks a lot like the serpent in his dream.
Lonsdale's achievement required some serious mathematics and was groundbreaking in the field of X-ray crystallography.
Aside from this and her other scientific work, Kathleen Lonsdale was a Quaker and an anti-war activist.
During World War II, she sheltered refugees and, in 1943, she spent a month in jail for refusing to pay a £2 fine for failing to register for civil defence duties. That experience led to a campaign for prison reform.
After the war she became an anti-nuclear campaigner and was involved with the Pugwash Conferences to see the end of all nuclear arms.
Her 1956 book, Is Peace Possible?, explored the relationship between world peace and world population needs.
The causes of war should be removed by removing social inequality between and within nations.
In her honour, the rare form of meteoric diamond was named lonsdaleite in 1966.
* July marks the 10th anniversary of the Ask Fuzzy column, the first of which was titled "Why do we dream?", written by Glenn Bilsborrow. The question was sent by our friend Evelyn Bean, who died in 2017 and is sadly missed.
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