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Table of Contents

Biography

AbstractImportant DatesOccupationPlacesSubjects

Relationships

PeopleInstitutions

Resources

Archival as AuthorArchival as SubjectPublished as AuthorPublished as Subject

P. M. S. Blackett

Photo

Dates

November 18, 1897 – July 13, 1974

Authorized Form of Name

Blackett, P. M. S., Baron Blackett (Patrick Maynard Stuart), 1897-1974

Additional Forms of Names

Blackett, P. M. S., 1897-1974

Blackett, Patrick, Baron Blackett, 1897-1974

Blackett, Patrick M. S., 1897-1974

Blackett, Patrick Maynard Stuart, Baron Blackett, 1897-1974

סטוארט, בלקט, פטריק מינר, 1897-1974

Biography

Abstract

Patrick M. S. Blackett was a particle physicist at Victoria University, Manchester, United Kingdom. He was awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his development of the Wilson cloud chamber method, and his discoveries therewith in the fields of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation."

Important Dates

November 18, 1897Birth, London (England).

1910 – 1914Cadet, Royal Naval College Dartmouth.

1921Obtained First class honours degree in physics, Cambridge University, Cambridge (England).

1921 – 1923Research student, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (England).

1923Fellow, King's College, London (England).

1924 – 1925Visiting Fellow, Universität Göttingen.

1933Fellow, Royal Society.

1933 – 1937Professor of Physics, Birkbeck College, University of London.

1934 – 1939Member, Committee for the Scientific Survey of Air Defence (the Tizard Committee).

1934 – 1970Chief Scientific Adviser, Great Britain Ministry of Technology.

1934 – 1970Deputy Chairman, Advisory Council on Technology.

1937 – 1953Langworthy Professor of Physics, University of Manchester, Manchester (England).

1939 – 1940Principal Scientific Officer, Royal Aircraft Establishment.

1940Awarded Royal Medal, Royal Society.

1941 – 1942Head of Operational Research Section, Great Britain Royal Air Force.

1948Wrote "Military and Political Consequences of Atomic Energy".

1949 – 1964Member, National Research and Development Corporation.

1953 – 1967Professor of Physics and Head of Physics Department (1953), Imperial College, University of London, London (England).

January 27, 1969Made Life Peer (Baron Blackett).

July 13, 1974Death, London (England).

Occupation

Particle physicist.

Places

Birth

London (England)

Undergraduate Education

Cambridge (England)

Employment

Cambridge (England)

London (England)

Manchester (England)

Death

London (England)

Subjects

Cloud chamber.

Cosmic rays.

Electricity.

Magnetic fields.

Nuclear physics.

Particle physics.

Relationships

People

Family

Blackett, Arthur Stuart

Father.

Blackett, Constanza Bayon

Wife.

Advisors & Collaborators

Bullard, Edward Crisp, Sir, 1907-1980

Advised by Blackett at University of Cambridge.

Dasgupta, Mrinal Kumar

Advised by Blackett at University of Manchester.

Elliot, H.

Advised by Blackett at University of Manchester.

Franck, James, 1882-1964

Postdoctoral advisor at Universitat Gottingen.

Frisch, Otto Robert, 1904-

Postdoctorally advised by Blackett at Birkbeck, University of Manchester.

Hamilton, J. (James), 1918-

Advised by Blackett at University of Manchester.

Occhialini, Giuseppe, 1907-1993

Postdoctorally advised by Blackett at University of Cambridge.

Runcorn, S. K.

Advised by Blackett at University of Manchester.

Rutherford, Ernest, 1871-1937

PhD advisor at University of Cambridge.

Thomson, G. P. (George Paget), 1892-1975

Collaborated on the MAUD Committee, lead by Thomson.

Wolfendale, A. W.

Advised by Blackett at University of Manchester.

Additional

Amaldi, Edoardo

Anderson, Carl D. (Carl David), 1905-1991

Babcock, Horace W.

Bethe, Hans A. (Hans Albrecht), 1906-2005

Bohr, Niels, 1885-1962

Bragg, William Henry, 1862-1942

Broglie, Louis de, 1892-1987

Budiansky, Stephen

Chadwick, James, 1891-1974

Compton, Arthur Holly, 1892-1962

Dirac, P. A. M. (Paul Adrien Maurice), 1902-1984

Dyson, Frank Watson

Gentner, Wolfgang, 1906-1980

Heisenberg, Werner, 1901-1976

Heitler, Walter, 1904-

Lovell, Bernard, 1913-2012

McCrea, William Hunter

Morse, Philip M. (Philip McCord), 1903-1985

Mott, N. F. (Nevill Francis), Sir, 1905-1996

Peters, B. (Bernard), 1910-

Polanyi, Michael, 1891-1976

Richardson, O. W. (Owen Willans), 1879-1959

Rosenfeld, L. (Leon), 1904-1974

Rossi, Bruno, 1905-1993

Sciama, D. W. (Dennis William), 1926-

Shankland, Robert S., 1908-

Shenstone, A. G. (Allen Goodrich)

Snow, C. P. (Charles Percy), 1905-1980

Tamm, I. E. (Igor' Evgen'evich), 1895-1971

Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees, 1869-1959

Wilson, W. (William), b. 1875

Zichichi, Antonino

Institutions

Major Positions

Birkbeck College

Professor of Physics.

Cavendish Laboratory (Cambridge, England)

Research Student.

Great Britain. Ministry of Technology

Chief Scientific Adviser.

Great Britain. Royal Air Force

Head, Operational Research Section, Coastal Command.

Imperial College of Science and Technology

Professor of Physics and Head, Physics Department.

Royal Aircraft Establishment (Great Britain)

Principal Scientific Officer.

University of Manchester. Physics Department

Langworthy Professor of Physics.

Professional Activities & Affiliations

European Physical Society

King's College (University of London)

Research Fellow.

National Research Development Corporation

Member.

Royal Naval College, Dartmouth

Cadet.

Royal Society (Great Britain)

Fellow and awarded 1940 Royal Medal.

University of Cambridge. Department of Physics

Obtained First class honours degree in Physics (1921).

Resources

Archival Resources

Author

Oral history interview with P. M. S. Blackett, 1962 December 17.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Patrick Stuart, Baron Blackett, papers, 1911-1975.

Royal Society

6 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG, England UK

Subject

Allen Shenstone autobiography, 1962.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Archive for the History of Quantum Physics, 1898-1950 (bulk).

Library

American Philosophical Society

105 South Fifth Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

Arthur Holly Compton papers, 1905-1971.

University Archives

Washington University

Campus Box 1061, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA

Bernard Peters papers, 1947-1992.

Niels Bohr Archive

Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark

Bruno Rossi papers, 1927-1985.

Institute Archives and Special Collections

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

M.I.T. Libraries, Rm. 14N-118, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

C. P. Snow collection, 1931-1980.

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

University of Texas at Austin

P.O. Drawer 7219, Austin, TX 78713-7219, USA

Frank Watson Dyson papers, 1875-1950.

department of manuscripts and University Archives

Royal Greenwich Observation Archives

Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR, England UK

Igor E. Tamm papers, 1921-1971.

In private hands

contact Tamm family

Moscow

Leon Rosenfeld papers, 1911-1974.

Niels Bohr Archive

Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark

Lord Blackett Physics Today obituary.

Michael Polanyi papers, 1900-1975.

The Joseph Regenstein Library. Department of Special Collections

University of Chicago

1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Niels Bohr scientific correspondence, supplement, 1910-1962.

Niels Bohr Archive

Blegdamsvej 17, Copenhagen, Denmark

O. W. Richardson papers, 1897-1959 (bulk 1920-1940).

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

University of Texas at Austin

P.O. Drawer 7219, Austin, TX 78713-7219, USA

Oral history interview with Carl Anderson, 1966 June 30.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Dennis William Sciama, 1999 June 9.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Edoardo Amaldi, 1969 April 9 and 10.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Giuseppe Occhialini, 1971 April 5, 6, May 16, 17, and November 18.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Hans Bethe, 1981 April 29.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Horace W. Babcock, 1977 July 25.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with James Chadwick, 1969 April 15, 16, 17 and 20.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Leon Rosenfeld, 1968 September 3.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Otto Robert Frisch, 1967 May 3.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with S. Keith Runcorn, 1993 September 16 and 17.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Sir Bernard Lovell, 1971 July 6.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Sir Nevill Francis Mott, 1963 May 13.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Walter Heitler, 1963 March 18 and 19.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Werner Heisenberg, 1962 November 30, 1963 February 7, 11, 13, 15, 19, 22, 25, 27, 28 and 1963 July 5, 12.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with William Hunter McCrea, 1978 September 22.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Oral history interview with Wolfgang Gentner, 1971 November 15.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Phillip M. Morse autobiographical data, circa 1962.

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

American Institute of Physics

One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA

Roderick Redman papers, 1947-1975.

Department of Manuscripts and University Archives

Royal Greenwich Observation Archives

Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR, England UK

Sir William Lawrence Bragg papers.

Royal Institution of Great Britain

London, Englank UK

W. Wilson papers, 1910-1957; 1960-1985.

Royal Holloway College Library

University of London

Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey, England UK

Published Resources

Author

Atomic weapons and East-West relations.

Cosmic rays; being the Halley lecture delivered on 5 June 1936, by P. M. S. Blackett.

Fear, war and the bomb: military and political consequences of atomic energy.

La radiation cosmique, par P. M. S. Blackett.

Lectures on rock magnetism.

Military and political consequences of atomic energy.

Studies of war : nuclear and conventional

Subject

A lesson for the future of our science: my testimony on Lord Patrick M.S. Blackett/ Antonino Zichichi, European Physical Society, Switzerland.

Blackett : physics, war, and politics in the twentieth century / Mary Jo Nye.

Blackett's war/ Stephen Budiansky.

Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings

P.M.S. Blackett: a biographical memoir / by Sir Bernard Lovell.

Patrick Blackett: sailor, scientist, and socialist/ edited by Peter Hore; with a foreword by Tam Dalyell.

Patrick M.S. Blackett Nobel Prize biography.

Patrick M.S. Blackett, Baron Blackett of Chelsea

Report on correspondence and papers of Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Baron Blackett (1897-1974), nuclear physicist, 1920-1974 / [compiled by Jeannine Alton, Harriot Weiskittel, Julia Latham-Jackson].