Martin Ryle
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2021) |
Sir Martin Ryle | |
---|---|
Born | Brighton, England | 27 September 1918
Died | 14 October 1984 Cambridge, England | (aged 66)
Education | Bradfield College |
Alma mater | University of Oxford (BA, DPhil) |
Known for | Aperture synthesis Radio astronomy |
Spouse |
Rowena Palmer (m. 1947) |
Awards |
|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astronomy |
Institutions | |
Sir Martin Ryle
Education and early life
Martin Ryle was born in Brighton, England, the son of Professor
Career and research
The focus of Ryle's early work in Cambridge was on radio waves from the
Ryle guided the
While serving as university lecturer in physics at Cambridge from 1948 to 1959, Ryle became director of the
Personality
According to numerous reports Ryle was quick-thinking, impatient with those slower than himself and charismatic (pp 502, 508, 510 of[4]). He was also idealistic (p 519 of[4]), a characteristic he shared with his father (p 499 of,[4][12]). In an interview (p271 of[13]) in 1982 he said "At times one feels that one should almost have a car sticker saying 'Stop Science Now' because we're getting cleverer and cleverer, but we do not increase the wisdom to go with it."
He was also intense and volatile (p 327 of[14]), the latter characteristic being associated with his mother (p 499 of,[4] Folder A.20 of[12]). The historian Owen Chadwick described him as "a rare personality, of exceptional sensitivity of mind, fears and anxieties, care and compassion, humour and anger." (Folder A.28 of[12])
Ryle was sometimes considered difficult to work with[
War, peace and energy
Ryle was a new physics graduate and an experienced radio ham in 1939, when the Second World War started. He played an important part in the Allied war effort,[4] working mainly in radar countermeasures. After the war, "He returned to Cambridge with a determination to devote himself to pure science, unalloyed by the taint of war."[4]
In the 1970s, Ryle turned the greater part of his attention from astronomy to social and political issues which he considered to be more urgent. With publications from 1976 and continuing, despite illness[4] until he died in 1984, he pursued a passionate and intensive program on the socially responsible use of science and technology.[15] His main themes were:
- Warning the world of the horrific dangers of nuclear armaments, notably in his pamphlet Towards the Nuclear Holocaust.[16]
- Criticism of nuclear power, as in Is there a case for nuclear power?[17]
- Research and promotion of alternative energy and energy efficiency, as in Short-term Storage and Wind Power Availability.[18]
- Calling for the responsible use of science and technology. "...we should strive to see how the vast resources now diverted towards the destruction of life are turned instead to the solution of the problems which both rich - but especially the poor - countries of the world now face."[15]
In 1983 Ryle responded to a request from the President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences for suggestions of topics to be discussed at a meeting on Science and Peace. Ryle's reply was published posthumously in Martin Ryle's Letter.[15] An abridged version appears in New Scientist with the title Martin Ryle's Last Testament.[19] The letter ends with "Our cleverness has grown prodigiously – but not our wisdom."
Honours and awards
Ryle was awarded numerous prizes and honours including:
- Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1952[4]
- Hughes Medal (1954)
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1964)[20]
- Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize (1965)
- National Academy of Sciences (1965)[21]
- Albert A. Michelson Medal of the Franklin Institute (1971)[22]
- Royal Medal (1973)
- Bruce Medal (1974)[23]
- Nobel Prize in Physics (1974)
- Ryle Telescope at Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory
- In 1965 Ryle co-delivered the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Exploration of the Universe.
Personal life
In their early years Martin and his elder brother received lessons at home in carpentry (p 498 of [4]) and manual skills became important for him throughout his life. This was for relaxation – he built boats to his own designs (p 498 of [4]) – and professionally. In his wartime radar work ([24]), his post-war radio-telescope building (p 510 of [4]) and his late researches into wind energy (p 517 of [4]) he was a hands-on practical engineer as well as a scientist.
Ryle also had a lifelong interest in sailing (p 498 of[4]) and this matched his choice when in the 1970s he turned his research subject from astronomy to wind energy (pp 420–422 of[25])
Another practical skill acquired by Martin in youth that later served him well in his professional career was as a radio 'ham'. While still at School (Bradfield College) he built his own transmitter and obtained a Post Office licence to operate it (pp 498–499 of[4]), with the GB-Callsign G3CY.
In 1936 the family moved to a house in Cambridge which became Martin's home after the war. In 1947 he and Rowena Palmer married and they lived in this house for rest of Martin's life. They had three children, born in 1949, 1951 and 1952. Ryle died on 14 October 1984, in Cambridge. He was celebrated on a first class stamp issued in 2009 as part of an Eminent Britons set.[26] Lady Ryle died in 2013.[27]
Ryle was an amateur radio operator,[4] and held the GB-Callsign G3CY.
References
- ^ a b Martin Ryle at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- EThOS uk.bl.ethos.648088.
- ^ Högbom, Jan A. (1959). The structure and magnetic field of the solar corona. cam.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge.
- ^ S2CID 71422161.
- ^ About Sir Martin Ryle
- ^ Press release about Martin Ryle's Nobel Prize.
- ^ Martin Ryle publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
- ^ Obs 104 (1984) 283
- ^ QJRAS 26 (1985) 358
- ^ The Papers of Martin Ryle have been catalogued by Anna-K Mayer and Tim Powell, NCUACS, in 2009 and are deposited with the Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge.[1]
- S2CID 4097569. – Observations from the first multi-element astronomical radio interferometer
- ^ a b c The Papers of Sir Martin Ryle at Churchill Archives Centre
- ^ Williams R ed The Best of The Science Show. Nelson, 1983.
- ^ Kragh, H. Cosmology and Controversy: the historical development of two theories of the universe. Princeton University Press, 1996.
- ^ a b c Rowan-Robinson, M. and Rudolf, A. (1985) Martin Ryle's Letter. Menard Press.
- ^ Ryle, M. Towards the Nuclear Holocaust. Menard Press, 1981.
- .
- S2CID 4266229.
- ^ Ryle M. (1985) "Martin Ryle's Last Testament". New Scientist 105 (14 February): 36-37.
- ^ "Winners of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society". Royal Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
- ^ "Henry Draper Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
- ^ "Franklin Laureate Database – Albert A. Michelson Medal Laureates". Franklin Institute. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
- ^ "Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
- ^ Ryle M. (1985) "D-13:some personal memories of 24th–28th May 1944". IEE Proceedings 132 (6 October): 438–440.
- ^ Longair, M. Maxwell's Enduring Legacy: a scientific history of the Cavendish laboratory. Cambridge University Press, 2016.
- ^ Eminent Britons stamp set
- ^ geni.com
External links
- Martin Ryle on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture, 12 December 1974 Radio Telescopes of Large Resolving Power