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:
Manuscript notes and narratives by Edward Appleton on tides, c.1936-1949
Manuscript notes and narratives by Edward Appleton on tides, no date, c.1936-1949.
Manuscript notes and research ideas by Edward Appleton , c. 1930s-1945
The materia consists of manuscript notes and research ideas by Edward Appleton. It is undated, but the data covers various years to 1945, and some notes refer to the comparison of observations at Delhi and Baton Rouge (see Clark, Ronald, Sir Edward Appleton, p. 151). Included is a letter from R. Naismith, April 1944 regarding comparative figures for Delhi and Sydney and including manuscript charts of data for Delhi, dated 1942-1943.
Manuscript notes on meteors by Edward Appleton, c. 1945-1950
The material consists of manuscript notes on meteors by Edward Appleton, some of which pre-dates his 1946 work. The material includes 1 page 'Notes by EVA [Edward Victor Appleton] headed 'To be returned with the Astronomer Royal’s letter', no date and tables on 'Meteor Streams' 1947-50, by A.G. Pritchard.
Manuscript notes, research ideas, graphs and calculations, all in Edward Appleton's hand, c. 1930s-1957
Manuscript notes, research ideas, graphs and calculations, all in Edward Appleton's hand. The material is undated, however some of it refers to a Polar Year Paper (1930s), some are on wartime paper, and some relate to 1957 data.
Material relating to Appleton's award of the Nobel Prize for Physics, November 1947
Material relating to Appleton's award of the Nobel Prize for Physics, dated November 1947. The material consists ofa tagged folder, with some loose material, of press releases and cuttings.
Material relating to Appleton's visit to Cincinnati, March 1957
Ring-binder containing press-cuttings, photographs, and printed ephemera relating to Sir Edward Appleton's visit to Cincinnati, March 1957. Appleton participated in the Centennial Program of Academy of Medicine and the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Cincinnati. At the very end of the ring-binders there are some loose duplicate press-cuttings.
Material relating to Appleton's visit to Norway, 1946
Material relating to Sir Edward Appleton's visit to Norway, dated 1946. It consists of typescript accounts from newspapers of the visit, synopses of lectures and interviews, press-cuttings, etc.
Material relating to circular letter sent by Edward Appleton to ionospheric stations, February 1954
Material relating to Edinburgh University, 1948-c. 1960
This sub-series consists of 5 files containing material relating to Edawrd Appleton's time working at University of Edinburgh, 1948-c.1960.
'Memorandum on Edinburgh Work on the F2 Layer', January 1955
'Memorandum on Edinburgh Work on the F2 Layer'. A 7 page typescript, dated January 1955.
Additional filters:
- Subject
- Physics 663
- Correspondence 190
- Radio Broadcasting 45
- Diaries 33
- Magnetism 24
- Radar 17
- Norway 14
- Absorption 13
- Astronomy 11
- Meteors 11
- Magnetic Storms 8
- Oscillations 8
- University of Edinburgh 8
- University of Edinburgh -- Principals 8
- Appleton, Edward Victor, Sir, 1892-1965 -- Correspondence 7
- Science 7
- Mathematics 6
- Electricity 5
- Television broadcasting 5
- World War, 1914-1918 5
- Belgium -- Brussels 4
- History of Science 4
- Tides 4
- Atmosphere 3
- Nuclear Energy 3
- Aurora 2
- Edinburgh -- Scotland 2
- Electronics 2
- Guest books 2
- Industry 2
- Johannesburg (South Africa) 2
- Nuclear Physics 2
- Obituaries 2
- Peru 2
- Photographs 2
- Prizes 2
- Seasonal variations 2
- United States -- D.C. -- Washington 2
- United States -- Ohio -- Cincinnati 2
- Waddington, Conrad Hal, 1905-1975 -- Correspondence 2
- Weather 2
- Academic Writing 1
- Air Force 1
- America 1
- Architecture 1
- Architecture, Designs and Plans 1
- Army Personnel 1
- Atmospheric Pressure, Measurement 1
- Atomic bomb 1
- Auroras 1
- Australia 1
- Australia -- New South Wales -- Sydney 1
- Baking 1
- Bibliography 1
- Biography 1
- Body temperature--Regulation 1
- Calculus Integral 1
- Cambridge (England) 1
- Campus Planning 1
- Canada 1
- Chemistry 1
- City Planning 1
- Civil Servants 1
- Clydebank (Scotland) 1
- Coal 1
- College Buildings 1
- Collisions (Nuclear Physics) 1
- Communication 1
- Communication and Technology 1
- Copenhagen (Denmark) 1
- Copenhagen, Denmark 1
- Eclipses 1
- Electric Circuits 1
- Electrical engineering 1
- Electromagnetic Waves 1
- Encyclopedias and Dictionaries 1
- England -- Merseyside -- Liverpool 1
- England -- West Yorkshire -- Bradford 1
- Eschatology 1
- Falkland Islands 1
- Fuel Technology 1
- Funeral Rites and Ceremonies 1
- Germany -- Lower Saxony -- Hanover 1
- Glass 1
- Honorary Degrees 1
- Iceland 1
- Insurance 1
- Ionosphere 1
- Italy 1
- Madagascar 1
- Manchester (England) 1
- Massachusetts -- Harvard 1
- Medicine | History | 1
- Memorials 1
- Microscopes 1
- Netherlands -- The Hague 1
- New Zealand 1
- Nuclear Weapons 1
- Physical Sciences 1
- Postal Service 1