On Facebook, J. D. Bernal's daughter, Jane Bernal, wrote on Helena Sheehan's wall:
> > Thank you Helena. It is difficult from where I sit, as his last surviving > child, to work out his significance, especially since I do not properly > understand X Ray Crystallography which was his central scientific > expertise, and through his work and those of his collaborators and > students, laid the foundation for molecular biology. Glad to see you talk > about the Marxism and science. Too many biographers are side-tracked by > the love-life or the war stories. For he was a great story- teller. He > would tell me Irish folk tales, or stories about Joseph Priestley or of > the little girl who discovered the Altamira caves. He often spoke of > seeing the streets of Dublin all in flames when he was a schoolboy, and > certainly knew which side he supported, he had no real involvement in the > rising. Like Kaan Kangal, I am glad to see Martin mentioned. There were > four children, the two from his marriage to Eileen Bernal:, Michael and > Egan , Martin, whose mother was Margaret Gardiner, and me, daughter of > Margot Heinemann . > And also: > > > > He was a great father, my Da, when he was there and not in Budapest, > Bucharest, Buenos Aires, Moscow, New York, Accra. Physically fearless and > with fascinating conversation about the structure of the cliffs and the > waves, the creatures in the rock-pools, the stone circles and dolmens. He > had his first major stroke when I was only 12, so I never got to know him > adult to adult as it were. But what I did get was a sense of the endless > fascination of practically everything. For the rest, like everyone else, I > have to rely on his writings and the accounts of other people. > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8240): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8240 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82377971/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
