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:
Edward Appleton's contributions to the Glasgow Herald re. nuclear explosions and Speech to the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, August 1959-November 1959
The material consists of Appleton's contributions to the Glasgow Herald, on nuclear explosions, August 1959, 5 pp. typescript; and Speech to Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, November 1959, 9 pages, typescript.
Edward Appleton's notes and drafts, c. 1938-1941
Edward Appleton's notes and drafts. The material consists of a folder containing; two extensive manuscript sequences, written in pencil and in ink, on absorption, perhaps for a paper with marginal comments in the hand of W.R. Piggott, no date, c.1938-39; 'Note on the results of oblique incidence transmission', a typescript note, dated 1941; ‘A sketch of a general theory of ionospheric absorption', a manuscript note, no date, written on wartime paper; and some shorter notes.
Edward Appleton's notes and instructions to A. G. Pritchard, November 1953-December 1953
Edward Appleton's notes and instructions to A. G. Pritchard. The material consists of typescript notes, dated November 1953-December 1953.
Edward Appleton's own notes and calculations, mainly on seasonal variations in E Layer, c. 1958
Edward Appleton's own notes and calculations, mainly on seasonal variations in E Layer. The material has no date but is related to and refers to work with C.P. Bell, c. 1958.
Edward Appleton's own notes and diagrams, c. 1959
Edward Appleton's own notes and diagrams. The material includes a copy of the abstract of Appleton’s paper 'The Daily Variability ... ' on the coding system employed, with a manuscript note 'For IYL [Ionospheric Young Ladies] to see, especially the coding system’.
Edward Appleton's own notes for papers, 'Notes regarding the Tromsö results' and correspondence from A.C. Stickland and L.J. Ingram to Appleton, 1933
The material consists of Edward Appleton's own notes for papers, 2 pages of 'Notes regarding the Tromsö results', not by Appleton and correspondence from A.C. Stickland and L.J. Ingram to Appleton. All dated 1933.
Edward Appleton’s speech at graduation ceremony and Jubilee Appeal for Edinburgh University Settlement, October 1955-November 1955
The material consists of Edward Appleton’s speech at graduation ceremony, October 1955, 5 pages, typescript; and Jubilee Appeal for Edinburgh University Settlement, broadcast November 1955, 3 pages, typescript.
'Effect of S and K on noon fF2', 1942-1952
The material consists of an original folder created by Edward Appleton entitled, 'Effect of S and K on noon fF2' and containing data for Abinger and Slough, dated 1942-1952.
'Electrical Communication and its Indebtedness to Physics', no date
'Electrical Communication and its Indebtedness to Physics'. The material consists of 2 separate versions of a lecture by Edward Appleton with this title, no date, 31 pages, and unpaginated manuscript draft.
'Extra-tropospheric influences in ultra-short-wave radar operation', March 1946
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