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 J.A. Ratcliffe to Edward Appleton, no date

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.22

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J. T. Henderson to Edward Appleton, no date. Enclosed are notes comparing grating and oscillator.

Dates: no date

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

Correspondence from J.A. Ratcliffe to Edward Appleton, 1933-1935

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.101

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J.A. Ratcliffe to Edward Appleton, dated 1933-1935.

Dates: 1933-1935

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Correspondence / Correspondence from J.A. Ratcliffe to Edward Appleton

Correspondence from J.A. Ratcliffe to Edward Appleton, 1951-1964

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.102

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J.A. Ratcliffe to Edward Appleton, dated 1951-1952, 1955, 1960 and 1964 (Appleton's carbon copy only). The material from 1952 includes a memorandum relating to analysis of I.G.Y. [International Geophysical Year] records, with comments by A. J. Lyon. Appleton's letter of 1964 refers to Larmor, and to the discovery of the equatorial anomaly.

Dates: 1951-1964

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Correspondence / Correspondence from J.A. Ratcliffe to Edward Appleton

Correspondence from James Miller and Roger Makins to Edward Appleton, 1951-1952

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.69

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from Lord provost James Miller and Roger Makins from the Foreihn Office, London to Edward Appleton, dated 1951-1952. The material relates to Appleton's proposed nomination of the Edinburgh Festival Society for the Nobel Peace Prize and it includes a draft copy of the submission.

Dates: 1951-1952

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

Correspondence from J.C. Goodier to Edward Appleton, no date, c. 1923-1945

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.42

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J.C. Goodier to Edward Appleton, no date, c. 1923-1945. Enclosed with the material are graphs and data on sunspots for 1923-38, and F2 critical frequencies for 1944 and 1945.

Dates: no date, c. 1923-1945

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

Correspondence from J.C. Schelleng, J.M.C. Scott and A.H. Shapley to Edward Appleton, 1928-1960

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.107

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from J.C. Schelleng to Edward Appleton, dated 1928; from J.M.C. Scott to Appleton, dated 1946, giving comments on a paper; and from A.H. Shapley to Appleton, dated 1960.

Dates: 1928-1960

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

Correspondence from J.H. Lees, P.H. Liang, O. Lodge and A.K. Longair to Edward Appleton, 1931-1952

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.61

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from J.H. Lees to Edward Appleton, dated 1949; from P.H. Liang to Edward Appleton, dated 1948; from O. Lodge to Edward Appleton, 1 letter only, dated 1931; and from A.K. Longair to Edward Appleton, including a photocopy of a letter from Appleton to Longair, date 1952.

Dates: 1931-1952

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

Correspondence from J.J. Thomson to Edward Appleton, 1931, 1937

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.115

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J.J. Thomson to Edward Appleton, dated 1931 and 1937. The letter from 1931 relates to J. Clerk Maxwell and to one from 1937 relates to the serious illness of his son, G.P. Thomson (later Sir).

Dates: 1931, 1937

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

Correspondence from J.L. Pawsey to Edward Appleton, 1946, 1951

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.348

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J.L. Pawsey to Edward Appleton, dated 1946 and 1951. The material includes reports on research in Australia, comments on U.R.S.I. [Union Radio-Scientifique International] report, and on Appleton's proposed research at Edinburgh.

Dates: 1946, 1951

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

Correspondence from J.M. Stagg to Edward Appleton, 1935

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.320

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from J.M. Stagg to Edward Appleton, dated 1935. The material includes a draft of a paper by Stagg on magnetic disturbance.

Dates: 1935

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Second Polar Year / Drafts, data and correspondence relating to publication of Polar Year and Tromsö work

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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