He addressed old beliefs with 21st century X-ray diffraction and fluorescence tests to reveal structure and composition, swab checks for organic material (like blood), and other .
It was with diffraction gratings that science learned that electrons were waves as well as particles, that beams of light were particles as well as waves.
Fatefully, such amity did not prevail at a laboratory over at King's College, London, where a woman named Rosalind Franklin was creating the world's best X-ray diffraction pictures .