Professor Cecil Frank Powell, c mid-20th century

Cecil Frank Powell, born 5 December 1903, died 9 August 1969, was an English physicist, known for receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1950 for heading the team that developed the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and discovering the pion. Powell attended Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, graduating in 1925. He then worked at Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, conducting research into condensation phenomena, and gained his PhD in 1927. He worked on nuclear processes at the University of Bristol from 1928 to 1969. Powell married Isobel Artner in 1932, and they had two children. Powell died from a heart attack in 1969, aged 65, whilst holidaying in Italy. Powell received many awards in his life, including FRS (1949), Hughes Medal (1949), Nobel Prize in Physics (1950), Royal Medal (1961), and Lomonosov Gold Medal (1967).