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 R. Naismith to Edward Appleton, 1938

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.74

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from R. Naismith to Edward Appleton, dated 1938.

Dates: 1938

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

Correspondence from R. Naismith to Edward Appleton, 1939

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.75

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from R. Naismith to Edward Appleton, dated 1939. The material Includes data, comments on papers and discussion meetings, and also letters from F.W.G. White on ionospheric research in New Zealand.

Dates: 1939

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

Correspondence from R. Naismith to Edward Appleton, 1938-1940, 1949

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.424

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from R. Naismith to Edward Appleton, dated 1938-1940, 1949. The material includes data and correspondence with J.R. Ashworth.

Dates: 1938-1940, 1949

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 R. van der Reit Woolley to Edward Appleton, 1947

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.353

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from R. van der Reit Woolley to Edward Appleton, dated 1947. The material encloses a research report by C.W. Allen.

Dates: 1947

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

Correspondence from R.A. Watson-Watt to Edward Appleton, 1930 and 1934

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.27

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from Robert Alexander Watson-Watt to Edward Appleton, 1934. The correspondence contains a very critical comment on Appleton's and Chapman's paper, 'The lightning flash as source of an atmospheric’, Nature, 134, and referring to previous work and publication by Appleton, Watson-Walt and Herd ('On the nature of atmospherics', Proceedings of the Royal Society, 111). The material includes a press-cutting of an article by Watson-Watt on atmospherics, dated 1930.

Dates: 1930 and 1934

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

Correspondence from "Rayleigh" to Edward Appleton, 1937

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.103

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from "Rayleigh" (possibly Robert John Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh, 1875-1947) to Edward Appleton, dated 15 December 1937. Letter sent from Terling Place, Chelmsford, Essex.

Dates: 1937

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

Correspondence from R.E. Burgess to Edward Appleton, 1948-1950

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.22

Scope and Contents

The material consists of correspondence from R.E. Burgess to Edward Appleton, dated 1948-1950. It includes comments and reports on ionospheric research in the USA.

Dates: 1948-1950

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

Correspondence from R.E. Burgess to Edward Appleton, 1947-1950

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.333

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from R.E. Burgess to Edward Appleton, dated 1947-1950. It includes drafts for publications, contributions to the U.R.S.I. [Union Radio-Scientifique International] report, translations and comments on reports by others.

Dates: 1947-1950

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

Correspondence from R.L. Smith-Rose to Edward Appleton, 1942, 1946-1960

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.109

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from R.L. Smith-Rose to Edward Appleton, dated 1942, 1946-1960. The material includes a letter from Y. Rocard, dated 1949, relating to French ionospheric research, and a report by Smith-Rose on the solar eclipse, dated 1952.

Dates: 1942, 1946-1960

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

Correspondence from S. Benner, F.W. Chapman and K.K. Darrow to Edward Appleton, 1927-1932

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.176

Scope and Contents

Correspondence from; S. Benner, 1932; F.W.Chapman, 1931; and K.K. Darrow, 1932 to Edward Appleton. Enclosed with the correspondence from K.K. Darrow is a letter from L.Tonks, dated 1927.

Dates: 1927-1932

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Ionisation / Contents of bulky folder, inscribed by Edward Appleton ‘Ionised Air’

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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