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:
'Study of Recurrence Tendencies in Ionospheric Storms', May 1958
'Study of Recurrence Tendencies in Ionospheric Storms'. 5 page typescript, dated 1958.
'Summary of Edinburgh findings on the equatorial anomaly', November 1962
'Summary of Edinburgh findings on the equatorial anomaly'. 2 page typescript, dated November 1962.
'Sunrise in the Ionospheric F Layer. Brief summary of results Summer 1963', 1963
'Sunrise in the Ionospheric F Layer. Brief summary of results Summer 1963'. 8 page typescript, with a little accompanying data from Mrs. Turnbull.
'Sunspot-Cycle Study of Abinger γ Variations', January 1963
'Sunspot-Cycle Study of Abinger γ Variations'. 1 page typescript, dated January 1963.
Sunspot numbers and data, c. 1949
The material consists of sunspot numbers and data, some dated 1949.
T, 1965
Letters of condolence received on Sir Edward Appleton's death, "T", 1965.
Tables, graphs, etc., by C.P. Bell, Edward Appleton and Mrs Pritchard, no date
Tables, graphs, etc., by C.P. Bell, Edward Appleton and Mrs Pritchard, no date. The material is mainly on F2 research. Some of it is annotated by Appleton.
Tables, graphs, etc., by C.P. Bell, Edward Appleton and others, no date
Tables, graphs, etc., by C.P. Bell, Edward Appleton and others, no date. The material is mainly on the removal of seasonal vatiation.
Tables of values at various heights, for International Quiet Days only, September 1953
Tables of values at various heights, for International Quiet Days only, calculated for September 1953. The material has written on it Edward Appleton's notes on method of tabulation to be used.
'The application of ionospheric data to radio communication problems III', c. 1940-1947
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