J.D. Bernal (1901-1971) was a prominent international scientist, born in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, Ireland. He did pioneering work in X-ray crystallography and was Professor of Physics at Birkbeck College, University of London and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He ranged widely in his intellectual interests and activities, also doing pioneering work in social studies of science or "science of science". He was a marxist in philosophy and a communist in politics. He led a complicated life, sitting on hundreds of committees and playing a leading role in many scientific and political organisations.

Professor Bernal and Peter de Francia were both members of the Geneva Club in the mid-1950s. This shortlived club was an opportunity for left-wing artists and intellectuals to meet. Those who attended their gatherings also included Eric Hobsbawm, John Berger, Paul Hogarth and Derrick Greaves. Another member was J.B.S. Haldane (1892-1964), the biologist and geneticist whose publications included Philisophy and the Sciences (1938).

His publications during the 1950s included Marx and Science (1952), Science and Industry in the Nineteenth Century (1953) and World Without War (1958).