Basil Schonland
Sir Basil Schonland | |
---|---|
Grahamstown, Cape Colony | |
Died | 24 November 1972 | (aged 76)
Alma mater | Rhodes University, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |
Awards | Order of Mapungubwe (2002) IET Faraday Medal (1962) Wilkins Lecture (1955) Bernard Price Memorial Lecture (1951) Elliott Cresson Medal (1945) Hughes Medal (1945) Chree Medal and Prize (1943) Fellow of the Royal Society (1938) Order of the British Empire (1919) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physics |
Institutions | Atomic Energy Research Establishment |
Sir Basil Ferdinand Jamieson Schonland
Birth and parentage
He was born in
Education
In 1910, Schonland matriculated at the age of 14 from
World War I service
During
Early research
After the war he became a research student at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University where he studied the scattering of beta particles. In 1922, Schonland returned to South Africa and took up a post at the University of Cape Town as a lecturer and later Professor of Physics.
Marriage and children
In 1923, Schonland married Isabel Craib and had one son and two daughters.
Bernard Price Institute
He left
World War II activity
As a Lt Col, Schonland commanded the South African Special Signals Services at the outbreak of the Second World War and led the development of South Africa's own radar system. In 1941 he went to England to acquire more equipment for South Africa but was requested by Sir John Cockcroft to become superintendent of the Army Operational Research Group of the Air Defence Research and Development Establishment (AORG) at Richmond, Surrey 1941-44. Under his leadership the AORG made significant contributions in a number of fields, especially in the use of radar by the army. By 1944 he was the scientific adviser to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery with 21st Army Group in England, France and Belgium. By the war's end he held the rank of brigadier.
Post war scientific service
In 1945, Schonland returned to South Africa at the insistence of General Jan Smuts, the Prime Minister, to establish the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He also resumed his post as director of the Bernard Price Institute at Witwatersrand University, and in 1951 became the first Chancellor of Rhodes University, retaining this position until 1962. In 1954, Schonland became the deputy director and later director of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, Oxfordshire.
Knighthood
He was knighted by
Retirement and death
He retired to the family home near Winchester, in Hampshire, and died after a long illness on 24 November 1972.
Awards
He was awarded the OBE (military), 1919; CBE (military), 1944; and a knighthood, 1960. He was awarded the
Schonland Research Centre
The Nuclear Physics Research Unit of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, founded by Friedel Sellschop, mentee of Prof Schonland, was renamed Schonland Research Centre in 1984.
Publications
- Atmospheric Electricity (1932) OCLC 1900222
- The Flight of Thunderbolts (1950) OCLC 490276
- The Atomists 1805-1933 (1968) OCLC 236856
Schonland's research papers were donated to the Churchill Archives Centre by Lady Schonland in 1973.[4]
See also
Notes
- .
- .
- ISBN 978-1-4200-3357-1.
- ^ "The Papers of Sir Basil Schonland | ArchiveSearch". archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
External links
- The Papers of Sir Basil Schonland
- Biography of Basil Schonland at the S2A3 Biographical Database of Southern African Science