X-ray crystallography determines distances and angles in B12 coenzymes2. The long, reactive Co-Cbond is indicated by an arrow.

Undergraduate Education

A career in crystallography can be approached from several different disciplines, including chemistry, physics, biology, geology, mathematics, and materials science. The best preparation is a broad background in several scientific areas, as well as experience using and programming computers. A bachelors degree in biology, for example, should include more physics, mathematics, and chemistry than normally required.

Good undergraduate laboratory experience is extremely valuable, in courses, summer employment in industry or academia. An excellent undergraduate grade average (B+ or better) demonstrates that the student can understand the complex problems of structure analysis.

Graduate Education

Most, but not all, crystallographers have a graduate degree. At the graduate level, a crystallographer develops and refines a specialty and begins to acquire the experience on which a career is based.

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