Cavendish Laboratory: Difference between revisions

Coordinates: 52°12′33.35″N 0°05′31.24″E / 52.2092639°N 0.0920111°E / 52.2092639; 0.0920111
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}}The '''Cavendish Laboratory''' is the Department of [[Physics]] at the [[University of Cambridge]], and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the [[New Museums Site]] as a laboratory for experimental physics. The laboratory moved to its present site in [[West Cambridge]] in 1974. {{As of|2011}}, 29 Cavendish researchers have won [[Nobel Prize]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/resources/nobel/about.php|title=Nobel Prize Winners who have worked for considerable periods of time at the Cavendish Laboratory}}</ref>
}}The '''Cavendish Laboratory''' is the Department of [[Physics]] at the [[University of Cambridge]], and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the [[New Museums Site]] as a laboratory for experimental physics. The laboratory moved to its present site in [[West Cambridge]] in 1974. {{As of|2011}}, 29 Cavendish researchers have won [[Nobel Prize]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/resources/nobel/about.php|title=Nobel Prize Winners who have worked for considerable periods of time at the Cavendish Laboratory|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060112165035/http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/resources/nobel/about.php|archivedate=2006-01-12|df=}}</ref>


==History==
==History==
The Cavendish Laboratory was initially located on the [[New Museums Site]], [[Free School Lane]], in the centre of Cambridge. After perennial space problems, it moved to its present site in [[West Cambridge]] in the early 1970s.<ref name=map>{{cite web|url=http://map.cam.ac.uk/#52.206989,0.097120,15|title=West Cambridge Site Location of the Cavendish Laboratory on the University map}}</ref> The oak door of the new Cavendish Laboratory is known for its inscription from the [[Book of Psalms]] in the Bible: "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein."<ref name="RigdenStuewer2009">{{cite book|last1=Rigden|first1=John S.|last2=Stuewer|first2=Roger H|title=The Physical Tourist: A Science Guide for the Traveler|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4uLnMZeACsC&pg=PA1|accessdate=1 October 2014|date=29 May 2009|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9783764389338|page=1}}</ref>
The Cavendish Laboratory was initially located on the [[New Museums Site]], [[Free School Lane]], in the centre of Cambridge. After perennial space problems, it moved to its present site in [[West Cambridge]] in the early 1970s.<ref name=map>{{cite web|url=http://map.cam.ac.uk/#52.206989,0.097120,15|title=West Cambridge Site Location of the Cavendish Laboratory on the University map}}</ref> The oak door of the new Cavendish Laboratory is known for its inscription from the [[Book of Psalms]] in the Bible: "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein."<ref name="RigdenStuewer2009">{{cite book|last1=Rigden|first1=John S.|last2=Stuewer|first2=Roger H|title=The Physical Tourist: A Science Guide for the Traveler|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4uLnMZeACsC&pg=PA1|accessdate=1 October 2014|date=29 May 2009|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9783764389338|page=1}}</ref>


The Department is named to commemorate British chemist and physicist [[Henry Cavendish]]<ref name=history>{{cite web |url=http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/history/ |title=The History of the Cavendish |publisher=University of Cambridge |accessdate=17 August 2015}}</ref><ref name=ahisotry>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcavendi00londuoft|title=A history of the Cavendish laboratory, 1871-1910}}</ref> for contributions to science<ref>[http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/camphy/laboratory/laboratory4_1.htm "Professor and Laboratory "], Cambridge University</ref> and his relative [[William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire]], who served as Chancellor of the University and donated money for the construction of the laboratory.<ref>''The Times'', 4 November 1873, p. 8</ref> Professor [[James Clerk Maxwell]], the developer of [[electromagnetic theory]], was a founder of the lab and became the first [[Cavendish Professor of Physics]].<ref>Dennis Moralee, [http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/history/old_maxwell.php "Maxwell's Cavendish"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915013523/http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/history/old_maxwell.php |date=2013-09-15 }}, from the booklet "A Hundred Years and More of Cambridge Physics"</ref>
The Department is named to commemorate British chemist and physicist [[Henry Cavendish]]<ref name=history>{{cite web |url=http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/history/ |title=The History of the Cavendish |publisher=University of Cambridge |accessdate=17 August 2015}}</ref><ref name=ahisotry>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofcavendi00londuoft|title=A history of the Cavendish laboratory, 1871-1910}}</ref> for contributions to science<ref>[http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/camphy/laboratory/laboratory4_1.htm "Professor and Laboratory "] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120118091305/http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/camphy/laboratory/laboratory4_1.htm |date=2012-01-18 }}, Cambridge University</ref> and his relative [[William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire]], who served as Chancellor of the University and donated money for the construction of the laboratory.<ref>''The Times'', 4 November 1873, p. 8</ref> Professor [[James Clerk Maxwell]], the developer of [[electromagnetic theory]], was a founder of the lab and became the first [[Cavendish Professor of Physics]].<ref>Dennis Moralee, [http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/history/old_maxwell.php "Maxwell's Cavendish"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915013523/http://www.phy.cam.ac.uk/history/old_maxwell.php |date=2013-09-15 }}, from the booklet "A Hundred Years and More of Cambridge Physics"</ref>


The Duke of Devonshire had given to Maxwell, as Head of the Laboratory, the manuscripts of Henry Cavendish's unpublished ''Electrical Works''. The editing and publishing of these was Maxwell's main scientific work while he was at the laboratory. Cavendish's work aroused Maxwell's intense admiration and he decided to call the Laboratory (formerly known as the Devonshire Laboratory) the Cavendish Laboratory and thus to commemorate both the Duke and Henry Cavendish.<ref>[http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/camphy/museum/area1/maxwell.htm "James Clerk Maxwell"], Cambridge University</ref><ref name=austin>{{cite web|url=http://www.austinmemories.com/page160/page160.html|title=Austin Wing of the Cavendish Laboratory|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121233127/http://www.austinmemories.com/page160/page160.html|archivedate=2012-11-21|df=}}</ref>
The Duke of Devonshire had given to Maxwell, as Head of the Laboratory, the manuscripts of Henry Cavendish's unpublished ''Electrical Works''. The editing and publishing of these was Maxwell's main scientific work while he was at the laboratory. Cavendish's work aroused Maxwell's intense admiration and he decided to call the Laboratory (formerly known as the Devonshire Laboratory) the Cavendish Laboratory and thus to commemorate both the Duke and Henry Cavendish.<ref>[http://www-outreach.phy.cam.ac.uk/camphy/museum/area1/maxwell.htm "James Clerk Maxwell"], Cambridge University</ref><ref name=austin>{{cite web|url=http://www.austinmemories.com/page160/page160.html|title=Austin Wing of the Cavendish Laboratory|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121121233127/http://www.austinmemories.com/page160/page160.html|archivedate=2012-11-21|df=}}</ref>

Revision as of 04:47, 28 November 2017

Cavendish Laboratory
Cavendish plaque at original New Museums Site
Established1874
AffiliationUniversity of Cambridge
Head of DepartmentAndy Parker[1]
Location
Cambridge
,
United Kingdom

52°12′33.35″N 0°05′31.24″E / 52.2092639°N 0.0920111°E / 52.2092639; 0.0920111
Cavendish Professor of PhysicsRichard Friend
Websitewww.phy.cam.ac.uk

The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics. The laboratory moved to its present site in West Cambridge in 1974. As of 2011, 29 Cavendish researchers have won Nobel Prizes.[2]

History

The Cavendish Laboratory was initially located on the

Book of Psalms in the Bible: "The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein."[4]

The Department is named to commemorate British chemist and physicist

electromagnetic theory, was a founder of the lab and became the first Cavendish Professor of Physics.[9]

The Duke of Devonshire had given to Maxwell, as Head of the Laboratory, the manuscripts of Henry Cavendish's unpublished Electrical Works. The editing and publishing of these was Maxwell's main scientific work while he was at the laboratory. Cavendish's work aroused Maxwell's intense admiration and he decided to call the Laboratory (formerly known as the Devonshire Laboratory) the Cavendish Laboratory and thus to commemorate both the Duke and Henry Cavendish.[10][11]

Physical Chemistry (originally the department of Colloid Science led by Eric Rideal) had left the old Cavendish site, subsequently locating as the Department of Physical Chemistry (under RG Norrish) in the then new chemistry building with the Department of Chemistry (led by Lord Todd) in Lensfield Road: both chemistry departments merged in the 1980s.

Nuclear physics

In World War II the laboratory carried out research for the

atomic bomb. Researchers included Nicholas Kemmer, Alan Nunn May, Anthony French, Samuel Curran and the French scientists including Lew Kowarski and Hans von Halban. Several transferred to Canada in 1943; the Montreal Laboratory and some later to the Chalk River Laboratories
.

The production of

Berkeley Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley
.

Biology

Entrance at the original Cavendish Laboratory site on Free School Lane

The Cavendish Laboratory has had an important influence on biology, mainly through the application of X-ray crystallography to the study of structures of biological molecules. Francis Crick already worked in the Medical Research Council Unit, headed by Max Perutz[12][13] and housed in the Cavendish Laboratory, when James Watson came from the United States and they made a breakthrough in discovering the structure of DNA. For their work while in the Cavendish Laboratory, they were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962, together with Maurice Wilkins of King's College London, himself a graduate of St. John's College, Cambridge.

The discovery was made on 28 February 1953; the first Watson/Crick paper appeared in

proteins
in Belgium on 8 April 1953 went unreported by the British press.

Laboratory of Molecular Biology. According to the late Dr. Beryl Oughton, later Rimmer, they all travelled together in two cars once Dorothy Hodgkin announced to them that they were off to Cambridge to see the model of the structure of DNA.[14] Orgel also later worked with Crick at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies
.

Cavendish Professors of Physics

Main article: Cavendish Professor of Physics

The Cavendish Professors were the Heads of the Department until the tenure of Professor Sir Brian Pippard, during which period the roles separated.

  1. James Clerk Maxwell FRS FRSE 1871–1879
  2. John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh[15] 1879–1884
  3. Sir
    Joseph J. Thomson
    FRS 1884–1919
  4. Ernest Rutherford FRS, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson 1919–1937
  5. Sir
    William Lawrence Bragg
    CH OBE MC FRS 1938–1953
  6. Sir Nevill Francis Mott CH FRS 1954–1971
  7. Sir Brian Pippard FRS[16] 1971–1984
  8. Sir Sam Edwards FRS 1984–1995
  9. Sir Richard Friend FRS FREng[17] 1995–present

Heads of Department

  1. Professor Sir Alan Cook FRS FRSE 1979-1984
  2. Professor
    Archie Howie
    CBE FRS 1989-1997
  3. Professor Malcolm Longair† CBE FRS FRSE 1997-2005
  4. Professor Peter Littlewood FRS 2005-2011
  5. Professor James Stirling† CBE FRS 2011-2013
  6. Professor
    Michael Andrew Parker
    2013 -

† Jacksonian Professors of Natural Philosophy

Cavendish Groups

Southern aspect of the laboratory at its current site, viewed from across 'Payne's Pond'

Areas in which the Laboratory has been influential include:-

Cavendish staff and alumni

As of 2015 the laboratory is headed by Andy Parker [1] and the Cavendish Professor of Physics is Sir Richard Friend.[17]

Notable senior academic staff

As of 2015 senior academic staff (Professors or Readers) include:[28]

  1. Jeremy Baumberg FRS, Professor of Nanoscience and Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge
  2. Athene Donald FRS, Professor of Experimental Physics, Master of Churchill College, Cambridge
  3. Sir
    FREng, Cavendish Professor of Physics and Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge
  4. Stephen Gull, University Professor of Physics
  5. Sir Michael Pepper FRS, Kt, Honorary Professor of Pharmaceutical Science in the University of Otago, New Zealand
  6. Didier Queloz, Professor at the Battcock Centre for Experimental Astrophysics
  7. James Floyd Scott FRS, Professor and Director of Research
  8. Ben Simons, Herchel Smith Professor of Physics
  9. Henning Sirringhaus, FRS, Hitachi Professor of Electron Device Physics and Head of Microelectronics and Optoelectronics Group
  10. Sarah Teichmann, Principal Research Associate and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

Notable emeritus professors

The Cavendish is home to a number of Emeritus Scientists, pursuing their research interests in the Laboratory after their formal retirement.[28]

  1. Mick Brown FRS, Emeritus Professor
  2. Volker Heine, FRS Emeritus Professor
  3. Brian Josephson, FRS, Emeritus Professor
  4. Archibald Howie, FRS, Emeritus Professor
  5. Malcolm Longair, CBE, FRS, FRSE, Emeritus Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy
  6. Gil Lonzarich, FRS Emeritus Professor of Condensed Matter Physics and Professorial Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge
  7. Bryan Webber, FRS Emeritus Professor of Theoretical High Energy Physics and Professorial Fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Nobel Laureates at the Cavendish

  1. John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (Physics, 1904)
  2. Sir J. J. Thomson (Physics, 1906)
  3. Ernest Rutherford (Chemistry, 1908)
  4. Sir
    William Lawrence Bragg
    (Physics, 1915)
  5. Charles Glover Barkla (Physics, 1917)
  6. Francis William Aston (Chemistry, 1922)
  7. Charles Thomson Rees Wilson[29] (Physics, 1927)
  8. Arthur Compton (Physics, 1927)
  9. Sir Owen Willans Richardson (Physics, 1928)
  10. Sir James Chadwick (Physics, 1935)
  11. Sir George Paget Thomson[30] (Physics, 1937)
  12. Sir Edward Victor Appleton (Physics, 1947)
  13. Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett
    (Physics, 1948)
  14. Sir John Cockcroft[31] (Physics, 1951)
  15. Ernest Walton (Physics, 1951)
  16. Francis Crick (Physiology or Medicine, 1962)
  17. James Watson (Physiology or Medicine, 1962)
  18. Max Perutz (Chemistry, 1962)
  19. Sir John Kendrew (Chemistry, 1962)
  20. Dorothy Hodgkin[32] (Chemistry, 1964)
  21. Brian Josephson (Physics, 1973)
  22. Sir Martin Ryle (Physics, 1974)
  23. Antony Hewish (Physics, 1974)
  24. Sir Nevill Francis Mott (Physics, 1977)
  25. Philip Warren Anderson
    (Physics, 1977)
  26. Pyotr Kapitsa (Physics, 1978)
  27. Allan McLeod Cormack
    (Physiology or Medicine, 1979)
  28. Mohammad Abdus Salam
    (Physics, 1979)
  29. Sir Aaron Klug[33] (Chemistry, 1982)

Alumni

Besides the Nobel Laureates, the Cavendish has many distinguished alumni including:

  1. Louis Harold Gray FRS
  2. Richard Edwin Hills FRS
  3. Olga Kennard
  4. Henry Snaith
  5. Evan James Williams FRS

References

  1. ^ a b "Andy Parker FInstP, CPhys, Professor of High Energy Physics". University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 2015-07-13.
  2. ^ "Nobel Prize Winners who have worked for considerable periods of time at the Cavendish Laboratory". Archived from the original on 2006-01-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "West Cambridge Site Location of the Cavendish Laboratory on the University map".
  4. ISBN 9783764389338
    . Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  5. ^ "The History of the Cavendish". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  6. ^ "A history of the Cavendish laboratory, 1871-1910".
  7. ^ "Professor and Laboratory " Archived 2012-01-18 at the Wayback Machine, Cambridge University
  8. ^ The Times, 4 November 1873, p. 8
  9. ^ Dennis Moralee, "Maxwell's Cavendish" Archived 2013-09-15 at the Wayback Machine, from the booklet "A Hundred Years and More of Cambridge Physics"
  10. ^ "James Clerk Maxwell", Cambridge University
  11. ^ "Austin Wing of the Cavendish Laboratory". Archived from the original on 2012-11-21. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. PMID 15768489
    .
  13. PMID 11914731
    .
  14. ISBN 978-0-87969-798-3
  15. ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "John William Strutt", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
  16. ^
    doi:10.1098/rsbm.2009.0014
    .
  17. ^ a b FRIEND. "FRIEND, Sir Richard (Henry)". Who's Who. Vol. 2015 (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |othernames= ignored (help) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) (subscription required)
  18. ^ "Quantum Matter group".
  19. ^ Gilbert George Lonzarich's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  20. ^ "Theory of Condensed Matter group".
  21. ^ "Electron Microscopy Group".
  22. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1986.0016
    .
  23. ^ "Semiconductor Physics Group".
  24. ^ "AMOP group".
  25. ^ "Nanophotonics Group".
  26. ^ "Structure and Dynamics Group".
  27. ^ "Laboratory for Scientific Computing".
  28. ^ a b "Academic staff at the Cavendish Laboratory". University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 2014-10-12.
  29. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1960.0037
    .
  30. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1977.0020
    .
  31. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1968.0007
    .
  32. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2002.0011
    .
  33. PMID 15003624
    .

Further reading

External links
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