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:
Offprints of Edward Appleton's writings, c. 1920-1965
The material consists offprints of Edward Appleton's writings, not a complete set.
'On a property of a certain oscillating circuit' , no date
'On a property of a certain oscillating circuit', no date. The material consists of 5 manuscript pages of notes by Edward Appleton.
'On the energy spectra of atmospherics', no date
'On the energy spectra of atmospherics'. The material consists of 2 typescript drafts for a paper so titled, 14 pp. (second copy lacks p.1), no date. The drafts are perhaps not by Appleton, but they have manuscript corrections in his hand. In Appleton's original folder, this is inscribed 'X-Spectrum Analyses', which also includes C.S. Gillmor's note quoted above.
Original folder inscribed, in Mrs Pritchard's hand, 'EVA's Instructions' [Edward Victor Appleton], no date
Original folder inscribed, in Mrs. Pritchard's hand, 'EVA's Instructions', but mainly containing Edward Appleton's own notes, ideas and calculations. The material is very miscellaneous, and none is dated.
Original folder labelled in the hand of A.G. Turnbull (formerly Pritchard) 'I. G. Y. fF2 Bartels Diagram' [International Geophysical Year], c. 1959
Original folder labelled ‘Tromsö Interim Report', 1935
Original folder labelled ‘Tromsö Interim Report'. The material consists of Edward Appleton's own notes and drafts; and ‘Magnetic Section’, drafts so titled by L. J. Ingram and by R. Naismith. All dated 1935.
Original folder labelled ‘β Determinations', c. 1954-1958
Original folder labelled ‘β Determinations'. The material consists of data and graphs for various centres, mainly a comparison of 1954 and 1958 observations by Edward Appleton, Mrs Anne Turnbull and others, and some manuscript notes by Appleton.
Original folder labelled ‘β Determinations' (not in Edward Appleton’s hand), c. 1958-1959
Original folder labelled ‘β Determinations' (not in Edward Appleton’s hand). The material consists of data and graphs, mainly for Puerto Rico for 1958-59, with forwarding letters (undated) from Mrs Anne Turnbull and a few manuscript notes by Appleton.
Original folder labelled ‘β Determinations. Puerto Rico', c. 1962
Original folder labelled ‘β Determinations. Puerto Rico'. The material consists of data, charts and graphs, by Mrs Turnbull and others, using observations up to March 1962. It includes two sets of manuscript notes by Edward Appleton, headed 'Case of vertical drift' and ‘Note’.
Outline of ‘Paper III. Ionospheric Absorption Measurements throughout a Sunspot Cycle', no date
The material consists of an outline of ‘Paper III. Ionospheric Absorption Measurements throughout a Sunspot Cycle', by Edward APpleton, no date.
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