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 H.T. Stetson to Edward Appleton, 1933, 1947, 1980

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.110

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from H.T. Stetson to Edward Appleton, dated 1933 and 1947. The letter from 1933 includes a photograph and has a note by Dr J. King, dated 1980 marked, 'letter drawing attention to the decrease of radio reception during the years 1930-1932 when the sunspot number was also decreasing'.

Dates: 1933, 1947, 1980

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

Correspondence from H.W. Newton to Edward Appleton, 1939, 1944, 1955

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.84

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from H.W. Newton to Edward Appleton, dated 1939, 1944, and 1955. The material from 1944 consists of 2 copies of a letter from Newton commenting on a Russian memorandum on magnetic and ionospheric storms.

Dates: 1939, 1944, 1955

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

Correspondence from H.W. Newton to Edward Appleton, 1946

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.347

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from H.W. Newton to Edward Appleton, dated 1946. The material includes a photograph of a giant sunspot, dated July 1946, and a draft of Newton's report on 'Solar Activity’.

Dates: 1946

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

Correspondence from H.W. Newton, W.R. Piggott and R.L. Smith-Rose to Edward Appleton, c. 1938-1939

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.425

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from H.W. Newton to Edward Appleton, dated 1938-1939; from W.R. Piggott to Edward Appleton, no date, c. 1939; and from R.L. Smith-Rose to Edward Appleton, dated 1938.

Dates: c. 1938-1939

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Additional Material / Sunspots and Solar Activity 'Solar Cycle Variation E and F1 / Correspondence

Correspondence from J. Bartels and W.J.G. Beynon to Edward Appleton, 1938 and 1949

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.187

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J. Bartels Edward Appleton dated 1938 and W.J.G. Beynon to Edward Appleton dated 1949. The correspondence from Beynon is regarding a paper in Nature and includes data.

Dates: 1938 and 1949

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Lunar tides / Correspondence in alphabetical order

Correspondence from J. Bartels to Edward Appleton, 1949-1958

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.5

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J. Bartels to Edward Appleton, dated 1949-1958. The material Includes data, graphs and printed matter relating to various research problems.

Dates: 1949-1958

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

Correspondence from J. Larmor to Edward Appleton, 1925-1939

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.59

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from J. Larmor to Edward Appleton, dated 1925-1939. Some of the letters remain in their original envelopes and many include research ideas and calculations, which continue on accompanying sheets or on to the back of the envelope. All are in a very tiny hand with many afterthoughts, cancellations and marginalia, etc.

Dates: 1925-1939

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

Correspondence from J. Needham to Edward Appleton, 1953

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.83

Scope and Contents

The material consists of one letter only from J. Needham to Edward Appleton, dated 1953.

Dates: 1953

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

Correspondence from J. Paton to Edward Appleton, 1949-1953 and no date

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.85

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J. Paton to Edward Appleton, dated 1949-1953. The material mainly relates to aurorae and includes a draft or transcript of a discussion on aurorae between Appleton, Paton and A.C.B. Lovell, no date.

Dates: 1949-1953 and no date

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

Correspondence from J.A. Ratcliffe and T. Walmsley to Edward Appleton, 1930, c. 1936-1937

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.402

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J.A. Ratcliffe to Edward Appleton, no date, c. 1936 including comments on a paper by Martyn; and correspondence from T. Walmsley to Edward Appleton, dated 1937, including a memorandum by Walmsley, dated 1930

Dates: 1930, c. 1936-1937

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Additional Material / Absorption / 'General Theory of Absorption' / 'Absorption R.R.B. [Radio Research Board] Report' / 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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