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:
List of Subscribers to a testimonial presented to Richard James Arthur Berry
Longer drafts for papers, some accompanied by comments by R. Naismith and L.J. Ingram, no date
Longer drafts for papers, some accompanied by comments by R. Naismith and L.J. Ingram, no date. N.B. Not all of these refer exclusively to E-layer but deal also with equivalent height, critical frequency, etc. Includes: 7 page sequence ‘The Nature of Electric Wave Reflection', pp.5-6 of a sequence, 8 page sequence, 1937, heavily, corrected and annotated, 'Some Notes on the interpretation of P’f records’.
Loose-leaf ring-back notebook, c. 1935-1942
Loose-leaf ring-back notebook. Contains notes and calculations, probably made over a considerable period. The notebook begins with and extensive sequence on 'Aerials', perhaps for a course of lectures, continues with notes on scattering, etc., typescript and manuscript bibliography on waves (the latest date is 1942), 2 pp. manuscript note on 'Effects of Bombing on Structures'.
Loose pages of notes and calculations, c. 1919-1922
Loose pages of notes and calculations, which were originally inserted into notebook Coll-37/B.3.
Loose pages of notes and calculations originally tucked into Coll-37/B.13, c. 1924-1927
Loose pages of notes and calculations originally tucked into Coll-37/B.13. Some of these are dated 1926
Loose pages of notes and calculations originally tucked into Coll-37/B.16, 1928
Loose pages of notes and calculations originally tucked into notebook Coll-37/B.16, various dates in 1928. Includes a letter regarding research from A. L. Green, 1928 (Appleton published a collaborative paper with Green in Proceedings of the Royal Society, 128, 1930).
Loose pages of notes and shorter narratives, originally found inside Coll-37/C. 9 on energy spectra and atmospherics, no date and 1931
Loose pages of notes and shorter narratives, originally found inside Coll-37/C. 9 on energy spectra and atmospherics , no date, but one page is dated 1931, and one page ends 'To be Continued. I find it takes time to elicit facts from my MSS [manuscripts] and to delay posting to you. E. V. A. [Edward Victor Appleton]'(Addressee unknown).
Loose pages of notes, calculations and narratives by Edward Appleton, c. 1925-1943
The material consists of loose pages of notes, calculations and narratives by Edward Appleton, one dated 26 April 1929 and one with reference to detection of an aeroplane, dated 1936.
Loose pages of notes on tests, and tabulated results, originally tucked into Coll-37/B.19, February 1928-April 1929, 1951
Loose pages of notes on tests, and tabulated results, originally tucked into notebook Coll-37/B.19 and dated February 1928-April 1929. It includes a sheet of records for Tromsö, dated 1951.
Loose pages originally tucked into Coll-37/B.31A, c. 1936-1938
Loose pages originally tucked into Coll-37/B.31A. These includes notes on 'Tides in the Upper Atmosphere' and Light of the Night Sky', notes on' Lunar Tides in Region E', with analysis of experiments 1937-38 and correspondence from J. E. Best, 1936 and J. A. Ratcliffe [John Ashworth Ratcliff], no date.
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