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.
Topics
Found in 833 Collections and/or Records:
Correspondence from T.W. Bennington with Edward Appleton, 1946
Correspondence from T.W. Bennington with Edward Appleton, dated 1946. The material includes reports and notes on magnetic disurbances.
Correspondence from W. de Groot and J.H. Dellinger to Edward Appleton, 1930 and 1948
Correspondence from W. de Groot to Edward Appleton, dated 1930 and from J.H. Dellinger to Edward Appleton, dated 1948.
Correspondence from W. Dieminger and H. Dingle to Edward Appleton, 1952, 1957-1958
Correspondence from W. Dieminger to Edward Appleton, dated 1957-1958 and from H. Dingle to Edward Appleton, dated 1952.
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon and others to Edward Appleton, 1954
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon and others to Edward Appleton, 1957
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon and others to Edward Appleton, 1959
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon and others to Edward Appleton, dated 1959. The material mainly regards the publication arrangements for M.C.I. [Mixed Commission on the Ionosphere] Proceedings and changes in the organisation of the U.R.S.I. [Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale] and the future of the Mixed Commission.
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon to Edward Appleton, 1947-1949
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon to Edward Appleton, 1950-1952
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon to Edward Appleton, 1950-1952. The material includes correspondence relating to Beynon’s application for D.Sc. degree at the University of Wales, and a paper by him on P', f measurements, dated June 1951. There is only one letter from 1952.
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon to Edward Appleton, 1953
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon to Edward Appleton, dated 1953. The material consists of general research correspondence and it includes letters and research notes from H. Bremmer, P.M. Davidson, a draft of a paper on ionospheric scattering by Beynon and Appleton, comments on paper by G. Mc Allcock, etc.
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon to Edward Appleton, 1954
Correspondence from W.J.G. Beynon to Edward Appleton, dated 1954. The material consists of general research correspondence, including letters and research notes from H. Bremmer, P.M. Davidson, work on scattering, etc.
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