Appleton, Sir Edward Victor, 1892-1965 (physicist and principal of the University of Edinburgh)
Dates
- Existence: 1892 - 1965
Biography
Appleton was born in Bradford and educated at local schools and St John's College, Cambridge where he was awarded first class honours and several prizes in both parts of the Natural Sciences Tripos (1913, 1914). He began research at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge with W.L. Bragg, but during his service in the Army Signals in the First World War he developed the interest in valves and 'wireless' signals which informed his subsequent research career. He returned to the Cavendish Laboratory in 1919, continuing to work on valves and, with B. van der Pol, on non-linearity, and on atmospherics. In 1924, in collaboration with M.F. Barnett, he performed a crucial experiment which enabled a reflecting layer in the atmosphere to be identified and measured; subsequent research indicated the existence of more than one reflecting layer. From 1924 to 1936 Appleton was Wheatstone Professor of Physics at King's College, London, directing research teams and, in 1932, heading an expedition to Tromsö in northern Norway as part of the programme of observations scheduled for the Second International Polar Year
He was President of the International Union of Scientific Radio (URSI), 1934-1952. In 1936 he succeeded C.T.R. Wilson in the Jacksonian Chair of Natural Philosophy at Cambridge, where he continued collaborative research on many ionospheric problems, including solar and lunar tides in the E-layer. From September 1936 he served on the re-constituted Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence (the 'Tizard Committee'), and in October 1938 was appointed successor to Sir Frank Smith as Secretary to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). He remained at the DSIR throughout the Second World War and until 1948 when he was appointed Principal of Edinburgh University. He took up the appointment in May 1949 and remained in office until his death in 1965. Appleton was elected FRS in 1927 (Bakerian Lecture 1937, Hughes Medal 1933, Royal Medal 1950) and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1947 for his investigations into the ionosphere. He was knighted in 1941.
Found in 196 Collections and/or Records:
Correspondence from F.A. Bannister to Edward Appleton, 1924
Correspondence from F.A. Bannister to Edward Appleton, dated 1924. The material consists of 2 letters and has photographs enclosed.
Correspondence from F.G.W. White to Edward Appleton, 1937
Correspondence from F.G.W. White to Edward Appleton, dated 1937. The material contains a note by White on absorption.
Correspondence from F.T. Davies to Edward Appleton, 1947
Correspondence from F.T. Davies to Edward Appleton, dated 1947. The material includes data and photographs.
Correspondence from F.W. Chapman to Edward Appleton, 1948, 1950
Correspondence from F.W. Chapman to Edward Appleton, dated 1948 and 1950.
Correspondence from F.W. van Straten, R.A. Watson-Watt and A.H. Waynick to Edward Appleton, 1920, 1947-1948
The material consists of correspondence from F.W. van Straten to Edward Appleton, dated 1947, from R.A. Watson-Watt to Appleton, dated 1920, and from A.H. Waynick to Appleton, dated 1948.
Correspondence from G. Millington, A.C. Mitchell, S.K. Mitra and N. Nagata to Edward Appleton, 1934, 1946-1954
The material consists of correspondence from G. Millington to Edward Appleton, dated 1946, photocopies; from A.C.Mitchell to Appleton, dated 1934, relating to 'Patchiness' in ionisation; from S.K. Mitra to Appleton, dated 1954; and fron T. Nagata to Appleton, dated 1950, relating to Japanese ionospheric research.
Correspondence from G.G. Macfarlane to Edward Appleton, 1943
Correspondence from G.G. Macfarlane to Edward Appleton, dated 1943. The material relates to non-linearity.
Correspondence from G.M.B. Dobson, H. Dowden, A.S. Eddington and J. Edegal to Edward Appleton, 1935-1950
The material consists of:
Correspondence from G.M.B. Dobson to Edward Appleton dated 1935. 1 letter only, relating to temperatures at great heights.
Correspondence from H. Dowden to Edward Appleton, dated 1944. This relates to a German radio station.
Correspondence from A.S. Eddington to Edward Appleton, dated 1942. 1 letter only.
Correspondence from J. Edegal to Edward Appleton, dated 1950.
Correspondence from H.D. Poole to Edward Appleton, 1937-1938
Correspondence from H.D. Poole to Edward Appleton, dated 1937-1938. The material includes mathematical calculations and a draft report.
Correspondence from H.D. Poole to Edward Appleton, 1939-1940
Correspondence from H.D. Poole to Edward Appleton, dated 1939-1940. The material includes correspondence on Poole's theories from W.J.G. Beynon, dated October 1939.
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