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:

Notes and communications on various problems in E layer research, sent to Appleton by W.R. Piggott, c 1947

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.45

Scope and Contents

Notes and communications on various problems in E-layer research, sent to Appleton by W.R. Piggott. The majority of these are dated 1947.

Dates: c 1947

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

Notes and Drafts, c.1920-1938 and no date

sub-subseries

Identifier: Coll-37/C.192-C.194

Scope and Contents From the Sub-Series:

The material consists of files relating to magnetic storms. Edward Appleton's own notes and drafts appear at Coll-37/C.192-C.194. Data, correspondence with colleagues, etc. follow at Coll-37/C.195-C.198.

Dates: c.1920-1938 and no date

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

Notes and drafts by Edward Appleton, c. 1945-1950

sub-subseries

Identifier: Coll-37/C.323-C.328

Scope and Contents

This sub-subseries consists of 6 files containing notes and drafts by Edward Appleton, dated 1945-1948. It includes comments by colleagues, background material, etc.

Dates: c. 1945-1950

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

Notes and drafts by Edward Appleton, c. 1935-1948

sub-sub-sub-series

Identifier: Coll-37/C.392-C.397

Scope and Contents

This sub-sub-sub-subseries consists of 6 files containing notes and drafts by Edward Appleton on absorption.

Dates: c. 1935-1948

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Additional Material / Absorption / 'General Theory of Absorption' / 'Absorption R.R.B. [Radio Research Board] Report'

Notes and drafts by Edward Appleton, 1939

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.406

Scope and Contents

Notes and drafts by Edward Appleton on the E layer. The material includes a copy of the collaborative paper with R. Naismilh ‘The Variation of Solar Ultra-Violet Radiation during the Sunspot Cycle’ (Philosophical Magazine, 27, 1939) and a draft follow-up paper by Appleton and Naismith ‘The Variation of Solar Ultra-Violet Light through the Sunspot Cycle' (Not listed in the bibliography.)

Dates: 1939

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Additional Material / 'E Layer: ‘E Layer Correlations f3/cos x versus f4/cos⁡ x ’'

Notes and drafts for a paper or papers, on seasonal, diurnal and latitude variations, c. 1949-1955

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.145

Scope and Contents

Notes and drafts for a paper or papers, on seasonal, diurnal and latitude variations. All the material is in the hand of A.J. Lyon, and it takes the form of various sequences, some bearing dates in 1954 and 1955, and some with annotations or amendments by Edward Appleton. The sequences have been tentatively grouped, where possible by pagination, paper size and type, etc.

Dates: c. 1949-1955

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / General Ionospheric Topics / Data and correspondence

Notes and drafts including notes of instructions by Edward Appleton to ‘I.Y.L.’, or to A.G. Turnbull, c. September 1964-January 1965

File

Identifier: Coll-37/D.63

Scope and Contents

The material consists of notes and drafts, mainly manuscript and typescript notes of instructions by Edward Appleton to ‘I.Y.L.’, or to A.G. Turnbull, c. September 1964-January 1965.

Dates: c. September 1964-January 1965

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Lectures, speeches, publications / 'Appleton's last note on the E-region anomaly'

Notes and graphs, all by Edward Appleton, on various F Layer phenomena, 1935-1943

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.86

Scope and Contents

Notes and graphs, all by Edward Appleton, on various F Layer phenomena, dated 1935-1942. The material also includes unidentified tables of observations of E₁, F₁ and F₂ layers, dated December 1942-January 1943.

Dates: 1935-1943

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / F layer / Data and correspondence

Notes and instructions for 'I.Y.L.' [Ionospheric Young Ladies], 1958, 1959, 1964

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.125

Scope and Contents

Notes and instructions for 'I.Y.L.' [Ionospheric Young Ladies]. Some of the notes are dated 1958, 1959 and 1964.

Dates: 1958, 1959, 1964

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / General Ionospheric Topics / Drafts and ideas for research / Appleton's instructions to collaborators and assistants at Edinburgh

Notes and material from W.R. Piggott to Edward Appleton, no date, c. 1947

File

Identifier: Coll-37/E.93

Scope and Contents

Notes and material from W.R. Piggott to Edward Appleton, no date but probably from 1947.

Dates: no date, c. 1947

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Correspondence / Correspondence and notes from W.R. Piggott to Edward Appleton

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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