Appleton, Sir Edward Victor, 1892-1965 (physicist and principal of the University of Edinburgh)

Person

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.

Topics

University of Edinburgh -- Principal

Found in 833 Collections and/or Records:

Correspondence from A.C. Aitken to Edward Appleton, 1949-1960

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.1

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from A.C. Aitken to Edward Appleton, dated 1949-1960. Aitken was Professor of Mathematics at Edinburgh University and was often consulted by Appleton about the statistical aspects of research data. Some of the correspondence is accompanied by data and calculations.

Dates: 1949-1960

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Correspondence

Correspondence from A.C. Stickland to Edward Appleton, 1933, 1942

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.111

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from A.C. Stickland to Edward Appleton, dated 1933 and 1942. The correspondence from 1933 relates to Tromsö data on storms.

Dates: 1933, 1942

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Correspondence

Correspondence from A.C.B. Lovell to Edward Appleton, 1951, 1956, 1958

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.63

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from A.C.B. Lovell to Edward Appleton, dated 1951, 1956 and 1958. The material includes some material on the development of Jodrell Bank radio telescope station.

Dates: 1951, 1956, 1958

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Correspondence

Correspondence from A.C.B. Lovell to Edward Appleton, 1947-1948

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.232

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from A.C.B. Lovell to Edward Appleton, dated 1947-1948. The material includes reports on research by Lovell's team at Manchester, and a note by Lovell on the importance of studying meteor trails in the southern hemisphere.

Dates: 1947-1948

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Meteor Trails / Correspondence and data

Correspondence from A.F. Wilkins, J.W. Wright, Clarence Zener and an unidentified sender to Edward Appleton, 1934-1959

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.150

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from A.F. Wilkins to Edward Appleton, dated 1949-1950; from J.W. Wright to Appleton, dated 1959; from C. Zener to Appleton, dated 1934; and from an unknown correspondent (from Redcroft, Stowmarket) to Appleton, dated 1937.

Dates: 1934-1959

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Correspondence

Correspondence from A.G.D. West and F.W.G. White to Edward Appleton, 1934-1938

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.147

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from A.G.D. West to Edward Appleton, dated 1934, relating to early Baird Television Ltd. reception and F.W.G. White to Appleton, dated 1936 and 1938, including data and some manuscript annotations by Appleton.

Dates: 1934-1938

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Correspondence

Correspondence from A.J. Lyon to Edward Appleton, c. 1956-1958

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.147

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from A.J. Lyon to Edward Appleton, some dated 1956-1958 and no date.

Dates: c. 1956-1958

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / General Ionospheric Topics / Data and correspondence

Correspondence from A.L. Green to Edward Appleton, 1926, 1930 and 1948

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.44

Scope and Contents

The correspondence from 1926 concerns experiments at King's College, London, and other stations, and it includes data and results.

Dates: 1926, 1930 and 1948

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Correspondence

Correspondence from A.L. Hirst, W.V.D. Hodge, J. Hollingworth and A. Holmes to Edward Appleton, 1929-1961

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.51

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from A.L. Hirst to Edward Appleton, dated 1961, consisting of a comment on a manuscript by Appleton; correspondence from W.V.D. Hodge to Appleton, dated 1958; correspondence from J. Hollingworth to Appleton, dated 1929; and correspondence from A. Holmes to Appleton, dated 1956, containing information for Appleton's Reith Lectures.

Dates: 1929-1961

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Correspondence

Correspondence from A.N.R. Goldie and J.T.Henderson to Edward Appleton, 1929, 1933 and 1945

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.20

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from A.N.R. Goldie and J.T.Henderson to Edward Appleton. The correspondence from Goldie is dated 1929, the correspondence from Henderson is dated 1933 and the file also includes 'About the Spectrum of atmospherics', a 3 pp. manuscript paper and graph, by A. Haubert, 1945.

Dates: 1929, 1933 and 1945

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Atmospherics / Correspondence

Appleton, Sir Edward Victor, 1892-1965 (physicist and principal of the University of Edinburgh)

Dates

Biography

Topics

Found in 833 Collections and/or Records:

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