Lawrence Brown obituary

As an x-ray crystallographer from the late 1940s onwards, my father, Lawrence Brown, who has died aged 95, was one of a select band of British scientists who helped to determine the atomic and molecular structure of crystals.

He put the knowledge he gained to good use in the then growing field of synthetic fibres, particularly with the textile company Courtaulds, where he rose to become head of its acetate and synthetic fibres laboratory. There he oversaw work on the development of several new synthetic fibres, including carbon fibre.