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:

‘Propagation of electromagnetic waves through an ionized gas in a magnetic field’, c. 1925-1943

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.201

Scope and Contents

‘Propagation of electromagnetic waves through an ionized gas in a magnetic field’. The material consists of a variously paginated and annotated draft by Edward Appleton, no date, c. 1925-1943.

Dates: c. 1925-1943

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Magneto-Ionic Theory / Notes and drafts for papers by Edward Appleton

'Propagation of waves in an ionized gas under the influence of a magnetic field', c. 1925-1943

File

Identifier: Coll-37/C.199

Scope and Contents

'Propagation of waves in an ionized gas under the influence of a magnetic field'. The material consists of a 16 page draft by Edward Appleton in its original folder, no date, c. 1925-1943.

Dates: c. 1925-1943

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Research topics / Magneto-Ionic Theory / Notes and drafts for papers by Edward Appleton

'Proposal for a Frequency-Modulation Navigation System' and 'Ultra Short Wave Radio' and 'Television', no date

File

Identifier: Coll-37/D.22

Scope and Contents

Draft notes by Edward Appleton: 'Proposal for a Frequency-Modulation Navigation System'; 3 pages, manuscript, no date; and 'Ultra Short Wave Radio' and 'Television', 4 pages, manuscript, no date.

Dates: no date

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Lectures, speeches, publications

R, 1965

File

Identifier: Coll-37/A.53

Scope and Contents

Letters of condolence received on Sir Edward Appleton's death, "R", 1965.

Dates: 1965

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Biographical and personal / Letters of condolence received on Sir Edward Appleton's death

Radar, 1935-1952

Sub-Series

Identifier: Coll-37/C.248-C.274

Scope and Contents This sub-series consists of 27 files containing material relating to Edward Appleton’s research into Radar [Radio Detection And Ranging]. Much of this consists of reports and information, some of it was sent to Appleton to document research in progress or for various wartime projects, and some was sent to or assembled by him as documentation for the historical development of radar. The material consequently includes some interesting reports on wartime research in Britain and elsewhere, and...

Dates: 1935-1952

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

'Radio Waves of extra-terrestrial origin' and 'Radar development and scientific radio research', 1949

File

Identifier: Coll-37/D.38

Scope and Contents

The material consists of 'Radio Waves of extra-terrestrial origin', the presidential address by Edward Appleton to the Science Masters' Association, Edinburgh, January 1949, a 26 page typescript (incomplete); and 'Radar development and scientific radio research', the recorded summary of Appleton’s address to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, March 1949, broadcast in Science Review, Scottish Home Service, 7 pages typescript and manuscript.

Dates: 1949

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Lectures, speeches, publications

Red loose-leaf ring-back notebook, c. 1957

Item

Identifier: Coll-37/B.42

Scope and Contents

Red loose-leaf ring-back notebook. It contains notes, diagrams, ideas, comments on papers and theories by others. p. 1 has the heading 'I. G. Y.' (International Geophysical Year) and may refer to preparations for the 1957 meetings, or to earlier URSI [Union Radio-Scientifique Internationale] meetings at which the idea was discussed. It includes notes, perhaps for reports, on E layer and F layer studies, and notes on rockets.

Dates: c. 1957

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Scientific notebooks

Red loose-leaf ring-back notebook, c. 1954

Item

Identifier: Coll-37/B.45

Scope and Contents

Red loose-leaf ring-back notebook. It contains various notes and diagrams. Included is a note from C.S. Gillmor 'These notes by EVA [Edward Victor Appleton]are mostly in 1954 prob. [probably] at Mixed Commission on Ionosphere meeting + some notes possibly in few years after '54'.

Dates: c. 1954

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Scientific notebooks

Red softbacked notebook, inscribed inside 'E. V. Appleton. St. John's College, Cambridge', 1919

Item

Identifier: Coll-37/B.2A

Scope and Contents

Red softbacked notebook, inscribed inside 'E. V. Appleton. St. John's College, Cambridge', dated 1919. Both ends of the item are used. Contains notes (some dated 1919) of experiments on oscillating circuits; notes on glassblowing; notes of work planned, including 'Van der Pol's coils'; and Narrative of experiments conducted.

Dates: 1919

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Scientific notebooks

'Reflections of a Scientific Civil Servant' and notes for a speech on science and government, no date

File

Identifier: Coll-37/D.36

Scope and Contents

The material consists of 'Reflections of a Scientific Civil Servant', no date , a 3 page manuscript draft by Edward Appleton, headed 'Chapter I’ perhaps written for a projected longer work; and manuscript notes for a speech on science and government.

Dates: no date

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections / Papers of Sir Edward Victor Appleton / Lectures, speeches, publications

Appleton, Sir Edward Victor, 1892-1965 (physicist and principal of the University of Edinburgh)

Dates

Biography

Topics

Found in 833 Collections and/or Records:

Additional filters: