Ralph H. Fowler
Encyclopedia
Sir Ralph Howard Fowler OBE
FRS
(17 January 1889 – 28 July 1944) was a British
physicist
and astronomer
.
. He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge
and read mathematics, becoming a wrangler in Part II of the Tripos
.
and was seriously wounded in the shoulder at Gallipoli
. The wound caused him to be introduced to Archibald Hill, who brought Fowler's abilities to the realm of physics. He worked as Hill's second in command working with the Experimental Department of HMS Excellent on Whale Island
and made a major contribution on the aerodynamics
of spinning shells, for which he was awarded the OBE
in 1918.
and statistical mechanics
, bringing a new approach to physical chemistry. With Arthur Milne
he wrote a seminal work on stellar spectra, temperatures, and pressures. In 1925 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society
. In 1926 he worked with Paul Dirac
on the statistical mechanics of white dwarf
stars. In 1928 he published (with Lothar Nordheim
) a seminal paper that explained the physical phenomenon now known as field electron emission, and helped to establish the validity of modern electron band theory. In 1931, he was the first to formulate and label the zeroth law of thermodynamics
. In 1932 he was elected to the Chair of Theoretical Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory
.
In 1939, when the Second World War began, he resumed his work with the Ordnance Board, despite poor health, and was chosen for scientific liaison with Canada and the United States. He knew America well, having visiting professorships at Princeton
and the University of Wisconsin–Madison
. For this liaison work he was knighted in 1942 (see MAUD Committee
). He returned to Britain later in the war and worked for the Ordnance Board and the Admiralty up a few weeks before his death in 1944.
Fifteen Fellows of the Royal Society and three Nobel Laureates were supervised by Fowler between 1922 and 1939. In addition to Milne, he worked with Sir Arthur Eddington, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
, Paul Dirac
, Sir William McCrea
. It was Fowler who introduced Paul Dirac
to quantum theory in 1923. Fowler also put Dirac and Werner Heisenberg
in touch with each other through Niels Bohr
. At Cambridge he supervised the doctoral studies of 64 students, including John Lennard-Jones
, Paul Dirac
and Garrett Birkhoff
.
er who played as a wicket-keeper
. He played for Norfolk
in the Minor Counties Championship in 1908 and 1909. In 1921 he married Eileen Mary (1901–1930), the only daughter of Ernest Rutherford
. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. Eileen died after the birth of their last child.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
FRS
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
(17 January 1889 – 28 July 1944) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
.
Education
Fowler was initially educated at home but then attended Evans' preparatory school at Horris Hill and Winchester CollegeWinchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
. He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
and read mathematics, becoming a wrangler in Part II of the Tripos
Tripos
The University of Cambridge, England, divides the different kinds of honours bachelor's degree by Tripos , plural Triposes. The word has an obscure etymology, but may be traced to the three-legged stool candidates once used to sit on when taking oral examinations...
.
War Service
In the First World War he obtained a commission in the Royal Marine ArtilleryRoyal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
and was seriously wounded in the shoulder at Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
. The wound caused him to be introduced to Archibald Hill, who brought Fowler's abilities to the realm of physics. He worked as Hill's second in command working with the Experimental Department of HMS Excellent on Whale Island
Whale Island, Hampshire
Whale Island is a small island in Portsmouth Harbour, close by Portsea Island. It is currently home to HMS Excellent, the oldest shore training establishment within the Royal Navy, and the Headquarters of Commander in Chief, Fleet.-Early history:...
and made a major contribution on the aerodynamics
Aerodynamics
Aerodynamics is a branch of dynamics concerned with studying the motion of air, particularly when it interacts with a moving object. Aerodynamics is a subfield of fluid dynamics and gas dynamics, with much theory shared between them. Aerodynamics is often used synonymously with gas dynamics, with...
of spinning shells, for which he was awarded the OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1918.
Academic career
In 1919 Fowler returned to Trinity and was appointed college lecturer in mathematics in 1920. Here he worked on thermodynamicsThermodynamics
Thermodynamics is a physical science that studies the effects on material bodies, and on radiation in regions of space, of transfer of heat and of work done on or by the bodies or radiation...
and statistical mechanics
Statistical mechanics
Statistical mechanics or statistical thermodynamicsThe terms statistical mechanics and statistical thermodynamics are used interchangeably...
, bringing a new approach to physical chemistry. With Arthur Milne
Arthur Milne
Edward Arthur Milne FRS was a British astrophysicist and mathematician.- Biography :Milne was born in Hull, Yorkshire, England...
he wrote a seminal work on stellar spectra, temperatures, and pressures. In 1925 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
. In 1926 he worked with Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics...
on the statistical mechanics of white dwarf
White dwarf
A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. They are very dense; a white dwarf's mass is comparable to that of the Sun and its volume is comparable to that of the Earth. Its faint luminosity comes from the emission of stored...
stars. In 1928 he published (with Lothar Nordheim
Lothar Wolfgang Nordheim
Lothar Wolfgang Nordheim was a German-born Jewish theoretical physicist...
) a seminal paper that explained the physical phenomenon now known as field electron emission, and helped to establish the validity of modern electron band theory. In 1931, he was the first to formulate and label the zeroth law of thermodynamics
Zeroth law of thermodynamics
The zeroth law of thermodynamics is a generalization principle of thermal equilibrium among bodies, or thermodynamic systems, in contact.The zeroth law states that if two systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third system, they are also in thermal equilibrium with each other.Systems are said to...
. In 1932 he was elected to the Chair of Theoretical Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory
Cavendish Laboratory
The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the university's School of Physical Sciences. It was opened in 1874 as a teaching laboratory....
.
In 1939, when the Second World War began, he resumed his work with the Ordnance Board, despite poor health, and was chosen for scientific liaison with Canada and the United States. He knew America well, having visiting professorships at Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. For this liaison work he was knighted in 1942 (see MAUD Committee
MAUD Committee
The MAUD Committee was the beginning of the British atomic bomb project, before the United Kingdom joined forces with the United States in the Manhattan Project.-Frisch & Peierls:...
). He returned to Britain later in the war and worked for the Ordnance Board and the Admiralty up a few weeks before his death in 1944.
Fifteen Fellows of the Royal Society and three Nobel Laureates were supervised by Fowler between 1922 and 1939. In addition to Milne, he worked with Sir Arthur Eddington, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, FRS ) was an Indian origin American astrophysicist who, with William A. Fowler, won the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics for key discoveries that led to the currently accepted theory on the later evolutionary stages of massive stars...
, Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics...
, Sir William McCrea
William McCrea (astronomer)
Sir William Hunter McCrea FRS was an English astronomer and mathematician.-Biography:His family moved to Kent in 1906 and then Derbyshire where he attended Chesterfield Grammar School. His father was a school master at Netherthorpe Grammar School in Staveley...
. It was Fowler who introduced Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics...
to quantum theory in 1923. Fowler also put Dirac and Werner Heisenberg
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg was a German theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to quantum mechanics and is best known for asserting the uncertainty principle of quantum theory...
in touch with each other through Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr
Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in...
. At Cambridge he supervised the doctoral studies of 64 students, including John Lennard-Jones
John Lennard-Jones
Sir John Edward Lennard-Jones KBE, FRS was a mathematician who was a professor of theoretical physics at Bristol University, and then of theoretical science at Cambridge University...
, Paul Dirac
Paul Dirac
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, OM, FRS was an English theoretical physicist who made fundamental contributions to the early development of both quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics...
and Garrett Birkhoff
Garrett Birkhoff
Garrett Birkhoff was an American mathematician. He is best known for his work in lattice theory.The mathematician George Birkhoff was his father....
.
Personal life
Fowler was a keen amateur cricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
er who played as a wicket-keeper
Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being guarded by the batsman currently on strike...
. He played for Norfolk
Norfolk County Cricket Club
Norfolk County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Norfolk and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...
in the Minor Counties Championship in 1908 and 1909. In 1921 he married Eileen Mary (1901–1930), the only daughter of Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics...
. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. Eileen died after the birth of their last child.