Mark Oliphant
FTSE | |
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Born | Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant 8 October 1901 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
Died | 14 July 2000 , Australia | (aged 98)
Education | |
Known for |
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Awards |
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Scientific career | |
Institutions | |
Thesis | The Neutralization of Positive Ions at Metal Surfaces, and the Emission of Secondary Electrons (1929) |
Doctoral advisor | Ernest Rutherford |
Doctoral students |
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27th Governor of South Australia | |
In office 1 December 1971 – 30 November 1976 | |
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Premier | Don Dunstan |
Lieutenant Governor |
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Preceded by | Sir James Harrison |
Succeeded by | Sir Douglas Nicholls |
Personal details | |
Political party | Australia Party (until 1977) Australian Democrats (from 1977) |
Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant,
Born and raised in
Oliphant left the Cavendish Laboratory in 1937 to become the
After the war, Oliphant returned to Australia as the first director of the
Early life
Marcus "Mark" Laurence Elwin Oliphant was born on 8 October 1901 in
He had
Oliphant was first educated at primary schools in
In 1919, Oliphant began studying at the University of Adelaide. At first he was interested in a career in medicine, but later in the year, Kerr Grant, the physics professor, offered him a cadetship in the Physics Department. It paid 10 shillings a week (equivalent to AUD$44 in 2022), the same amount that Oliphant received for working at the State Library, but it allowed him to take any university course that did not conflict with his work for the department.[13] He received his Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in 1921 and then did honours in 1922, supervised by Grant.[14] Roy Burdon, who acted as head of the department when Grant went on sabbatical in 1925, worked with Oliphant to produce two papers in 1927 on the properties of mercury, "The Problem of the Surface Tension of Mercury and the Action of Aqueous Solutions on a Mercury Surface"[15] and "Adsorption of Gases on the Surface of Mercury".[16] Oliphant later recalled that Burdon taught him "the extraordinary exhilaration there was in even minor discoveries in the field of physics".[17]
Oliphant married Rosa Louise Wilbraham, who was from Adelaide, on 23 May 1925. The two had known each other since they were teenagers. He made Rosa's wedding ring in the laboratory from a gold nugget from the
Cavendish Laboratory
In 1925, Oliphant heard a speech given by the New Zealand physicist Sir
Rutherford's Cavendish Laboratory was carrying out some of the most advanced research into
Oliphant submitted his
A son, Geoffrey Bruce Oliphant, was born 6 October 1930,
In 1932 and 1933, the scientists at the Cavendish Laboratory made a series of ground-breaking discoveries. Cockcroft and Walton bombarded lithium with high energy protons and succeeded in transmuting it into energetic nuclei of helium. This was one of the earliest experiments to change the atomic nucleus of one element to another by artificial means. Chadwick then devised an experiment that discovered a new, uncharged particle with roughly the same mass as the proton: the neutron. In 1933, Blackett discovered tracks in his cloud chamber that confirmed the existence of the positron and revealed the opposing spiral traces of positron–electron pair production.[28]
Oliphant followed up the work by constructing a
Oliphant used
... we had no idea whatever that this would one day be applied to make hydrogen bombs. Our curiosity was just curiosity about the structure of the nucleus of the atom, and the discovery of these reactions was purely, as the Americans would put it, coincidental.[17]
In 1934, Cockcroft arranged for Oliphant to become a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, which paid about £600 a year. When Chadwick left the Cavendish Laboratory for the University of Liverpool in 1935, Oliphant and Ellis both replaced him as Rutherford's assistant director for research. The job came with a salary of £600 (equivalent to AUD$66,000 in 2022).[38] With the money from St John's, this gave him a comfortable income.[23] Oliphant soon fitted out a new accelerator laboratory with a 1.23 MeV generator at a cost of £6,000 (equivalent to AUD$660,000 in 2022) while he designed an even larger 2 MeV generator.[39] He was the first to conceive of the proton synchrotron, a new type of cyclic particle accelerator.[40] In 1937, he was elected to the Royal Society. When he died he was its longest-serving fellow.[23]
University of Birmingham
To obtain funding for the 60-inch (150 cm)
Oliphant sailed for New York on 10 December 1938, and met Lawrence in Berkeley. The two men got along very well, dining at
Radar
In 1938, Oliphant became involved with the development of
Oliphant's group at Birmingham worked on developing two promising devices, the
In 1940, the
The Australians were already preparing to produce radar sets locally. Oliphant persuaded Professor
Manhattan Project
At the University of Birmingham in March 1940,
Great Britain was at war and authorities there thought that the development of an atomic bomb was urgent, but there was much less urgency in the United States. Oliphant was one of the people who pushed the American program into motion.
Oliphant then met with the Uranium Committee at its meeting in New York on 26 August 1941.[56] Samuel K. Allison, a new member of the committee, was an experimental physicist and a protégé of Arthur Compton at the University of Chicago. He recalled that Oliphant "came to a meeting and said 'bomb' in no uncertain terms. He told us we must concentrate every effort on the bomb, and said we had no right to work on power plants or anything but the bomb. The bomb would cost 25 million dollars, he said, and Britain did not have the money or the manpower, so it was up to us." Allison was surprised that Briggs had kept the committee in the dark.[58]
Oliphant then travelled to Berkeley, where he met his friend Lawrence on 23 September, giving him a copy of the Frisch–Peierls memorandum. Lawrence had
On 26 October 1942, Oliphant embarked from Melbourne, taking Rosa and the children back with him. The wartime sea voyage on the French Desirade was again a slow one, and they did not reach Glasgow until 28 February 1943.
Oliphant secured the services of fellow Australian physicist
A meeting with Major General Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project, at Berkeley in September 1944, convinced Oliphant that the Americans intended to monopolise nuclear weapons after the war, restricting British research and production to Canada, and not permitting nuclear weapons technology to be shared with Australia. Characteristically, Oliphant bypassed Chadwick, the head of the British Mission, and sent a report direct to Wallace Akers, the head of the Tube Alloys Directorate in London. Akers summoned Oliphant back to London for consultation. En route, Oliphant met with Chadwick and other members of the British Mission in Washington, where the prospect of resuming an independent British project was discussed. Chadwick was adamant that the cooperation with the Americans should continue, and that Oliphant and his team should remain until the task of building an atomic bomb was finished. Akers sent Chadwick a telegram directing that Oliphant should return to the UK by April 1945.[68]
Oliphant returned to England in March 1945, and resumed his post as a professor of physics at the University of Birmingham. He was on holiday in Wales with his family when he first heard of the
Later years in Australia
In April 1946, the Prime Minister, Ben Chifley, asked Oliphant if he would be a technical advisor to the Australian delegation to the newly formed United Nations Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC), which was debating international control of nuclear weapons. Oliphant agreed, and joined the Minister for External Affairs, H. V. Evatt and the Australian Representative at the United Nations, Paul Hasluck, to hear the Baruch Plan. The attempt at international control was unsuccessful, and no agreement was reached.[71]
Chifley and the Secretary for
Within the school he created a Department of Particle Physics, which he headed himself, a Department of Nuclear Physics under Ernest Titterton, a Department of Geophysics under John Jaeger, a Department of Astronomy under Bart Bok, a Department of Theoretical Physics under Kenneth Le Couteur and a Department of Mathematics under Bernhard Neumann.[73]
Oliphant was an advocate of nuclear weapons research. He served on the post-war Technical Committee that advised the British government on nuclear weapons,[74] and publicly declared that Britain needed to develop its own nuclear weapons independent of the United States to "avoid the danger of becoming a lesser power".[75]
The establishment of a world-class nuclear physics research capability in Australia was intimately linked with the government's plans to develop nuclear power and weapons. Locating the new research institute in Canberra would place it close to the Snowy Mountains Scheme, which was planned to be the centrepiece of a new nuclear power industry.[76]
Oliphant hoped that Britain would assist with the Australian program, and the British were interested in cooperation because Australia had uranium ore and weapons testing sites, and there were concerns that Australia was becoming too closely aligned with the United States. Arrangements were made for Australian scientists to be seconded to the British Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, but the close cooperation he sought was stymied by security concerns arising from Britain's commitments to the United States.[77]
Oliphant envisaged Canberra one day becoming a
Despite the setbacks, by 2014 the vision of Canberra as a university town would be well on its way to becoming a reality.[80]
In September 1951, Oliphant applied for a visa to travel to the United States for a nuclear physics conference in Chicago. The visa was not refused, nor was Oliphant accused of subversive activities, but neither was it issued. This was the height of the
In 1955, Oliphant initiated the design and construction of a 500 megajoule
Oliphant founded the
Oliphant retired as Professor of Particle Physics in 1964, and was appointed Professor of Ionised Gases. In this chair he produced his first research papers since the 1930s. He was appointed
Oliphant was created a
Late in life, Oliphant watched his wife, Rosa, suffer before her death in 1987, and he became an advocate for voluntary euthanasia.[88]
Death
On 14 July 2000, he died in Canberra, at the age of 98.[89] His body was cremated.[45] His daughter Vivian died from a brain tumour in 2008,[90] after his son Michael died from colon cancer in 1971.[91]
Legacy
Places and things named in honour of Oliphant include the Oliphant Building at the Australian National University,[92] the Mark Oliphant Conservation Park,[93] a South Australian high schools science competition,[94] the Oliphant Wing of the Physics Building at the University of Adelaide,[95] a school in the Adelaide suburb of Munno Para West,[96] and a bridge on Parkes Way in Canberra near his old laboratory at the ANU.[97]
His papers are in the Adolph Basser Library at the Australian Academy of Science, and the Barr Smith Library at the University of Adelaide.
Honours and awards
- 1937 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society[23]
- 1943 Awarded Hughes Medal by the Royal Society[23]
- 1946 Awarded Silvanius Thomson Medal, Institute of Radiology[23]
- 1948 Awarded Faraday Medal by the Institution of Engineers[23]
- 1954 Elected (Foundation) Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science[23]
- 1954 Elected (Foundation) President of the Australian Academy of Science[23]
- 1955 Invited to deliver the Bakerian Lecture by the Royal Society[23]
- 1955 Invited to deliver the Rutherford Memorial Lecture by the Royal Society[23]
- 1956 Awarded Galathea Medal by King Frederik IX of Denmark[23]
- 1959 Created Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire[86]
- 1961 Awarded Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture[100]
- 1976 Inducted as first Honorary Fellow and a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering[101]
- 1977 Appointed Companion of the Order of Australia[87]
-
Statue on North Terrace, Adelaide
-
Text on the statue
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Plaque on the Jubilee 150 Walkway
Bibliography
- Oliphant, Mark (1949). The Atomic age. London: G. Allen and Unwin. OCLC 880015.
- — (1970). Science and the Future. Bedford Park, South Australia: Flinders University Science Association. OCLC 37096592.
- — (1972). Rutherford: Recollections of the Cambridge Days. Amsterdam: Elsevier Pub. Co. OCLC 379045.
See also
Notes
- The Express and Telegraph. South Australia. 2 November 1901. p. 4. Retrieved 5 April 2020 – via Trove.
- The Register. 9 October 1928. p. 3. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
- ^ .
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 3.
- ^ a b "Mick Joffe, interview with Sir Mark Oliphant". Mick Joffe. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 6.
- The South Australian Advertiser. South Australia. 14 April 1865. p. 2. Retrieved 5 April 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 8.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 16.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 19.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 28.
- .
- S2CID 4069073.
- ^ a b c d Sutherland, Denise (1997). ""Just Curiosity...", Sir Mark Oliphant". University of Melbourne. Archived from the original on 3 February 2007. Retrieved 28 January 2007.
- ^ a b Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 29.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 30.
- ^ "The History of the Cavendish". University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 8 July 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 37.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 41.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Australian Academy of Science – Biographical Memoirs – Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant". Archived from the original on 6 August 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 42–43.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 43.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 59.
- ^ a b Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 71.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 45–46.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 48–50.
- ^ a b Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 52–55.
- .
- .
- .
- ^ .
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 55–57.
- .
- PMID 17747682.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 58.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 53.
- S2CID 36978443.
- ^ a b Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 66–69.
- ^ "A Century of Expertise". University of Birmingham. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014.
- ^ a b Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 74–78.
- ^ Clarke, Dr N. M. "The Nuffield Cyclotron at Birmingham". University of Birmingham. Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/74397. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 83–90.
- ^ Mellor 1958, pp. 427–428.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 91–92.
- ^ Mellor 1958, p. 446.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Mellor 1958, p. 450.
- ^ Gowing 1964, pp. 39–41, 407.
- ^ Gowing 1964, p. 45.
- ^ Gowing 1964, p. 78.
- ^ a b Rhodes 1986, p. 372.
- ^ doi:10.1071/HR17023.
- ISSN 0096-3402. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
- ^ Rhodes 1986, p. 373.
- ^ Hewlett & Anderson 1962, p. 44.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 93–94.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 113–114.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 113–115.
- ^ Gowing 1964, pp. 256–260.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 183.
- ^ (PDF) from the original on 28 February 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 5 January 1944. Archivedfrom the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 16 August 1943. Archivedfrom the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
- doi:10.1071/HR18008.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 122–124.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 198.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 131–132.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 144–145.
- ^ a b Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 171–179.
- ^ Gowing & Arnold 1974, p. 45.
- ^ Reynolds 2000, p. 53.
- ^ Gowing & Arnold 1974, p. 147.
- ^ Gowing & Arnold 1974, pp. 336–337.
- ^ Reynolds 2000, pp. 52–53.
- ^ "ANU by 2020" (PDF). Australian National University. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 February 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
- Canberra Times. Archivedfrom the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 188–193.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 229–231.
- ^ a b Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, pp. 247–249.
- Papua New Guinea Post-courier. 10 May 1977. p. 9. Retrieved 9 May 2020 – via Trove.
- ^ a b "Oliphant did not want Black". The Age. 20 August 1981. Archived from the original on 11 May 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
- ^ a b "No. 41590". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 30 December 1958. p. 38.
- ^ a b "Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) entry for Mark Oliphant". Australian Honours Database. Canberra, Australia: Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 26 January 1977. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
For eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in the field of public service and in service to the crown.
- ^ "Handbook of the South Australian Voluntary Euthanasia Society". South Australian Voluntary Euthanasia Society. Archived from the original on 3 May 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
- ^ "Sir Mark Oliphant dies". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 18 July 2000. Archived from the original on 22 February 2015. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
- ^ "Ms Vivian Wilson". Parliament of Australia. 7 October 2017.
- ^ Cockburn & Ellyard 1981, p. 267.
- ^ "Oliphant Building". Australian National University. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
- ^ "Mark Oliphant Conservation Park". Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
- ^ "Oliphant Science Awards". South Australian Science Teachers Association. Archived from the original on 25 April 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
- ^ "Sir Mark Oliphant (1901–2000)" (PDF). University of Adelaide. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
- ^ "Mark Oliphant College B-12". Mark Oliphant College. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
- ^ "Katy Gallagher | Chief Minister, Australian Capital Territory | Parkes Way bridge to honour ANU pioneer" (Press release). ACT Government. 16 June 2010. Archived from the original on 7 August 2017. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
- ^ "Oliphant, Marcus Laurence Elwin". Encyclopaedia of Australian Science. Archived from the original on 1 July 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ^ Edwards, Verity (8 June 2015). "Monica Oliphant: 'tree-hugging' physicist turned to renewables". The Australian. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
- ^ "Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture". science.org.au. Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ "History". Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
References
- Cockburn, Stewart; Ellyard, David (1981). Oliphant, the Life and Times of Sir Mark Oliphant. Adelaide: Axiom Books. ISBN 978-0-9594164-0-4.
- OCLC 670156897.
- Gowing, Margaret; OCLC 611555258.
- OCLC 637004643. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- Mellor, D. P. (1958). The Role of Science and Industry. OCLC 4092792. Archived from the originalon 17 May 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- Reynolds, Wayne (2000). Australia's Bid for the Atomic Bomb. Carlton, Victoria: Melbourne University Press. OCLC 46880369.
- OCLC 13793436.
Further reading
- Ramsey, Andrew (2019). The Basis of Everything. Sydney: HarperCollinsPublishers Australia. OCLC 1104182720.
- OCLC 1345458814.)
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External links
- "Larson Collection interview with Mark Oliphant". IEEE. Retrieved 5 October 2014. Video interview.
- "Oral History Transcript – Sir Mark Oliphant". American Institute of Physics. 3 November 1971. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
- "Group photograph of British Mission at Berkeley, 1944". Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Retrieved 12 March 2015.