Guide to
the manuscript papers of British scientists: T-V
ACCESS ARRANGEMENTS
The collections described in
this guide have been catalogued by the CSAC at Oxford
and the NCUACS at the University of Bath, and subsequently deposited in libraries and
archives throughout the UK.
Inclusion in this guide does
not imply that all the material in the collections will be available for
research; there are restrictions on access to items in many of the collections
and researchers should always consult the repository before planning a
visit.
Most of the catalogues
compiled by the Unit can now be viewed online through the Access to Archives
website at the National Archives. Direct
links to the catalogues are being added from this Guide. To view the full-text catalogue, please click
on the link under Finding Aid. Note, some catalogues are very extensive and may take a few
moments to download. An indication of the size of the file is
provided.
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TAIT, James Francis (b.1925) and TAIT, Sylvia Agnes Sophia (1917-2003), biochemists
TANSLEY, Sir Arthur George (1871-1955), botanist
TAYLOR,
Sir Geoffrey Ingram (1886-1975), fluid mechanician,
aerodynamicist
THOMPSON,
Sir Harold Warris (1908-1983), physical chemist
THOMPSON, John
Harold Crossley (1909-1975), mathematician
THOMPSON, Sir
Michael Warwick (b.1931), physicist
THOMSON, Sir
George Paget (1892-1975), physicist
|
THOMSON, Sir
Joseph John (1856-1940) physicist
TINBERGEN, Nikolaas (1907-1988), ethologist
TITCHMARSH,
Edward Charles (1899-1963), mathematician
TOLANSKY, Samuel
(1907-1973), physicist
TOWNSEND, Sir
John Sealy Edward (1868-1957), physicist
TURING, Alan Mathison (1912-1954), mathematician
UBBELOHDE,
Alfred Rene Jean Paul (1907-1988), chemical engineer
|
Tait, James Francis
(b.1925) and Tait, Sylvia Agnes Sophia (1917-2003), biochemists
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository: Archives and
Manuscripts section, Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of
Medicine, London. Reference code: GB 0120 MS.8128
Title: Papers and
correspondence of James Francis Tait (b.1925) and
Sylvia Agnes Sophia Tait, (1917-2003)
Dates of creation of
material: 2003 and 2004
Extent: 1 box
CONTEXT
Biographical history
The Taits were a rare example of a married
couple both being elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. Even more remarkably they were elected
together for their joint work; their careers ran together from the late 1940s.
James Francis Tait was born in Stockton-on-Tees
in 1925. He was educated at the University of Leeds, graduating B.Sc. in Physics 1946
and receiving his Ph.D. in 1948. He
lectured at the Department of Medical Physics, Middlesex Hospital Medical
School, 1948-1955, before being taken on to the External Scientific Staff of
the Medical Research Council (MRC) until 1958.
In 1956 J.F. Tait married Sylvia Simpson, a
colleague and fellow-researcher in the Medical School.
Sylvia Agnes Sophia Tait (née Wardropper) was born in
Tumen,
Russia, on 8
January 1917. Her father was a British
agronomist and her Russian mother was a mathematician. The family fled Russia
during the Revolution and arrived in the UK in 1919. She studied at University College London,
1935-1939, being awarded B.Sc. in Zoology and thereafter undertook postgraduate
research. In 1940 she married a fellow
student, Anthony Simpson, who was killed in action a year later. She continued research, working in the
Department of Anatomy, University of Oxford as assistant to J.Z. Young, 1941-1944, and
then moved to the Courtauld Institute of Biochemistry
in the Middlesex Hospital
Medical School,
London where
she worked 1944-1955 before, with J.F. Tait, being
taken onto the staff of the MRC in 1955.
In 1958 the Taits were jointly invited to go to work with G. Pincus at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental
Biology, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, USA. After a decade of productive research they
returned to the UK and posts
at the Middlesex Hospital Medical
School in 1970. J.F. Tait was
appointed Joel Professor of Physics as Applied to Medicine, 1970-1982, and
Sylvia Tait was Research Associate. Together they jointly headed the Middlesex
Hospital Medical School Biophysical Endocrinology Unit, 1970-1985.
In the early 1950s the Taits were part of an international scientific team which,
with colleagues in Switzerland
including Tadeus Reichstein, isolated and identified aldosterone (initially termed electrocortin),
a hormone secreted by the cortex of the adrenal gland,
and the last of the major steroid hormones to be discovered. The identification of aldosterone
caused widespread scientific excitement for the hormone is part of the complex
mechanism used by the body to regulate blood pressure. Its isolation and identification opened up
research in a wide range of medically significant areas such as the regulation
of salt and water balance, blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. The Taits continued
their joint research into aldosterone - a field they
were to dominate for thirty years - and the adrenal glands, both in the UK and
then in the USA in the 1960s. On their
return to the Middlesex
Hospital Medical
School in 1970 they
continued research focused on the cellular functions of the adrenal
cortex.
The Taits
were both elected FRS in 1959. Joint
awards also included the Tadeus Reichstein Award of
the International Society for Endocrinology (1976), the Gregory Pincus Memorial Medal (1977) and the American Heart
Association’s Ciba Award for Hypertension Research (1977).
Sylvia Tait
died in February 2003, shortly before an anniversary meeting to mark the
discovery of aldosterone, which was then held in her
honour.
Custodial history
Received for cataloguing in 2003 and 2004 from Professor
J.F. Tait. Placed in Wellcome Library 2003 and 2004.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The chief component of this
small collection is the unpublished typescript of the Taits’
book ‘A Quartet of Scientific Discoveries’, which recounted a
number of the significant scientific breakthroughs in which they were involved
or witnessed at first hand. A revised
version was prepared in 2004 and added to the archvie
in the same year. There are also
obituaries of Sylvia Tait, curricula vitae of the Taits including lists of their publications, and a little
further material relating to the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of aldosterone in 1953.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE
Access:
By appointment with the Archivist and after completion of a
Reader's Application and Undertaking.
Language:
English
Finding aids:
Printed
Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of James Francis Tait
and Sylvia Agnes Sophia Tait. NCUACS catalogue no. 128/1/04, 8pp.
Copies available from NCUACS, University
of Bath
ALLIED MATERIALS
In same repository:
The Wellcome Library for
the History and Understanding of Medicine also holds correspondence between the
Taits and Professor Tadeus
Reichstein, Organisch-chemische Anstalt
der Universität Basel, on
the isolation of electrocortin (later renamed aldosterone), 1952-1959; abstracts of the letters, with
explanatory notes and reprints.
Reference: GC/224.
Tansley, Sir Arthur George,
1871-1955. Knight, botanist
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository: Cambridge University Library. Reference code: GB0012 CUL A.G. Tansley
Title: Papers and correspondence of Sir Arthur George Tansley, 1871-1955
Dates of creation of material: 1854-2008.
Extent: ca 500 items
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Arthur George Tansley was born in London
on 15 August 1871. He was educated at a
preparatory school in Worthing, Sussex, 1883-1886, and Highgate School, London
where the teaching of science was ‘farcically inadequate’, 1886 to
the beginning of 1889 when he left school to attend classes at University
College London, listening to the lectures of R. Lankester,
W. Ramsey and F.W. Oliver. In October
1890 he entered Trinity College Cambridge to read for the Natural Sciences Tripos. After taking
Part I of the Natural Sciences Tripos in 1893 he was
invited by Oliver to join him as assistant in the Botany Department, University
College London, with the result that he spent 1893-1894 teaching in London and preparing for Part II of the Tripos at Cambridge
which he took in May and June 1894. Tansley’s association with Oliver lasted 13 years
until he was appointed Lecturer in Botany in Cambridge in 1907. During his time at UCL he visited Ceylon and the Malay
Peninsula 1900-1901 and founded a new botanical journal The New Phytologist
in 1902 which he continued to edit to 1931.
In Cambridge Tansley’s interests turned increasingly to plant
ecology, and as these interests grew he became a mainstay of British ecology
and one of its acknowledged leaders worldwide.
A light lecturing commitment left free the season from Easter to October
for work in the field, and he organised and conducted many student excursions
in such areas as the Norfolk Broads, the New Forest, the Forest of Dean
and the Malvern District. In this way he
acquired a considerable knowledge of the vegetation of different parts of Great Britain. In 1911 Tansley
organised the first International Phytogeographical
Excursion in the British Isles, inviting a number of European and American
botanists interested in phytogeography to visit
selected localities in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland over a number of
weeks. Partly to help the foreign
visitors unfamiliar with British vegetation, a small book, Types of British Vegetation, largely written by Tansley,
was published in 1911. This was the
first systematic account of British vegetation, as distinct from flora. A second International Phytogeographical
Excursion followed in the USA
in 1913 and it was subsequently decided to make these excursions a permanent
institution. In 1904 at Tansley’s initiative a small body had been formed
consisting of a number of British botanists who were especially interested in
British vegetation: the Central Committee for the Survey and Study of British Vegetation, afterwards shortened to British Vegetation
Committee. In 1913 the Committee gave
way to the British Ecological Society with a membership open to anyone
interested in ecology at large, of both plants and animals. At the same time the Journal of Ecology was founded as the organ of the new society, and
Tansley served as its editor, 1917-1937.
During the First World War Tansley became interested in psychology. He was greatly attracted to the work of
Sigmund Freud, seeking to assimilate Freudian concepts with biological
principles. At the end of the war he
attempted an English presentation of his understanding of what psychological
teaching signified in terms of biology and daily life. Tansley’s The New Psychology and its Relation to Life
was published in 1920 and enjoyed a considerable success with professional
psychologists and the wider public in Britain and overseas. In 1923 he resigned his university
lectureship in botany and spent 1923-1924 studying with Freud in Vienna.
After a period without an
academic position Tansley accepted an invitation to
apply for the vacant Sherardian Chair of Botany at Oxford. Elected in January 1927 he held the Chair for
ten and a half years (with a fellowship of Magdalen College), retiring as Emeritus Professor
in 1937. He infused new life into the Oxford botanical
department, making himself responsible for a considerable programme of lectures
and field work. He also embarked on a
substantial book, an expanded version of his earlier Types of British Vegetation, which appeared in 1939 as The British Islands and their Vegetation
and secured the author the Linnean Society’s
Gold Medal in 1941.
In retirement Tansley undertook a good deal of public service which
ultimately led to the establishment of the Nature Conservancy. His nature
conservation interests were, however, of long standing. In 1913 he had accepted an invitation to join
the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves (founded a year earlier by
Charles Rothschild) and serve on its Council.
In 1942 the Council of the British Ecological Society appointed a
committee (chaired by Tansley) on ‘Nature
Conservation and Nature Reserves’, whose report was published in the
Society’s journals in 1944. In
1945 the Minister of Town and Country Planning appointed a Nature Reserves
Investigation Committee, and as an adjunct to it a Wild Life Conservation
Special Committee of which Tansley was Vice-Chairman
and in fact Acting Chairman for most of its existence, 1945-1947. When the Nature Conservancy was established
by Royal Charter in 1949, Tansley was appointed
chairman, a position he held until 1953 when he resigned, mainly owing to
increasing deafness. Other public
service included work for the National Trust and his Presidency of the Council
for the Promotion of Field Studies, 1949-1953.
He continued to publish, for example a semi-popular book to support the
conservation movement Our Heritage of
Wild Nature in 1945 and a shorter popular presentation of his big book on British Islands and their Vegetation
which appeared in 1949 as Britain’s
Green Mantle. Other activities of
his later years included his Herbert Spencer Lecture at Oxford in 1942 on ‘The values of
science to humanity’: he had corresponded with Spencer as a young man,
1895-1896; and his active support of the Society for Freedom in Science.
Tansley was elected FRS in 1915 and knighted in 1950. He died at Grantchester
near Cambridge,
25 November 1955.
The preceding account draws
on H. Godwin’s ‘Arthur George Tansley
1871-1955’, Biographical Memoirs of
Fellows of the Royal Society vol. 3 (1957), pp. 227-246.
Custodial history
The papers were received from
the Library, Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge,
January 2009. Placed in Cambridge
University Library, 2009.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The archive covers the period
1854-2008. Characteristic of the archive
are the inscriptions and explanatory notes provided by the botanist and
ecologist Sir Harry Godwin (1901-1985), Professor and Head of Botany Department
at Cambridge,
1960-1968.
Biographical papers include a
collection of writings about Tansley and his work
which was kept with his archive in the Plant Sciences Library at Cambridge. These writings include the memoirs written by
Godwin for the Royal Society and the British Ecological Society and his 1976 Tansley lecture.
There is a little material relating to Tansley’s
education and career including articles written by Tansley
for his school magazine, 1883-1884, his essay in candidature for the Arnold Gerstenberg Studentship, University of Cambridge, 1896, his
‘Diary kept in the East 1900-01’ and his application (abandoned)
for the Professorship of Botany, University of Sydney, 1912. Miscellaneous biographical items include a
little material about his medical condition at the end of his life and a
postcard from his widow at 100. A small
number of photographs includes ‘Sir Arthur Tansley
on Knoll Hill, nr. Corfe
Castle, Dorset
8 April 1954’.
There is a major
chronological sequence of notebooks used by Tansley
for field notes, 1893-1937. The
notebooks were used in diverse locations throughout the British Isles, in
Europe, especially France
and Scandinavia, North Africa, and the USA in connexion with the 1913
International Phytogeographical Excursion. There are also miscellaneous notes, drafts
and data relating to Tansley’s botanical and
ecological interests found in a variety of containers with explanatory
inscriptions. These include ‘Early
notes on Plant Anatomy / Plankton / Amentiferae’,
1894-1903, ‘Norfolk Broads Maps. Notes etc Lecture “The Physical
Features of the Norfolk Broads” ’, 1903-[?1910], ‘Quadrats Crockham Hill [Kent]
Devon Branscombe Kent - Tunbridge Wells’, n.d. 1905-1909, and ‘Charts of Fritillaries etc in Magdalen [Oxford] Meadow’, 1929-1933.
Tansley’s interests in psychology are documented by a notebook
titled ‘The New Psychology Press Cuttings Letters’ and
miscellaneous manuscript and typescript notes and drafts. The notebook was used for letters and
press-cuttings relating to Tansley’s book, The New Psychology and its Relation to Life,
London: Allen
& Unwin, 1920.
The miscellaneous papers include a typescript draft of a symposium contribution
on ‘The Historical Foundations of Psychology’, manuscript notes for a lecture titled
‘On Criticisms of Freudian Theory’ and Tansley’s
manuscript copy of ‘Letter from
Freud on Breuer’s “Anna O”. 20 Nov. 1932.’
Publications material comprises
a chronological sequence of Tansley’s own
publications, 1898-1953, correspondence and papers relating to publications,
1913-1978, and a small group of publications by others, 1918-1939. Tansley’s own
publications are represented mostly by offprints or similar published texts,
the principal exception being the substantial documentation relating to The British Islands and their Vegetation,
first published by Cambridge University Press in 1939, including letters found
in Tansley’s own copy and ‘Data for Revision
1954-5’. The great bulk of the
correspondence and papers relating to publications concerns two large scale
projects initiated in the 1930s which did not come to fruition: the
‘National Atlas of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’ and the
‘New Students’ British Flora’. Tansley was a
member of the National Atlas Committee and convened the British Ecological
Society National Atlas SubCommittee, and was one of
the editors of the proposed British Flora with J.S.L. Gilmour and A.J. Wilmott. The Journal of Ecology is represented by the
1913 memorandum of agreement between Cambridge University Press and Tansley on behalf of the British Ecological Society.
Lectures and broadcasts
material includes both invitation and public lectures, 1896-1955, and university
teaching, 1909-1937, including undated material. Tansley talked on a
wide range of botanical and ecological topics to diverse audiences including
pioneering adult education institutions in London such as the Working
Men’s College and Morley College, scientific societies such as the
British Ecological Society and the Botanical Society of the British Isles and
university societies such as the Cambridge University Natural Sciences Club and
the Newnham Science Club, Cambridge. The great bulk of the university teaching
material relates to courses given while he was Professor of Botany at Oxford
University, 1927-1937, including forestry and ecology lectures. The broadcast material comprises twelve
duplicated typescript ‘as broadcast’ scripts for a series of radio
talks on ‘Man’s Place in Nature’, broadcast October-December
1942. Tansley
does not appear to have given a talk and his contribution to the series, if
any, is not clear.
There is documentation for Tansley’s association with six societies and organisations:
British Ecological Society, Magdalen College Oxford
Philosophy Club, National Union of Scientific Workers, Nature Conservancy,
Society for Freedom in Science and Society for the Promotion of Nature
Reserves. The bulk of the societies and
organisations material in fact relates to Tansley’s
nature conservation interests. There are
correspondence and papers including maps relating to the foundation of the
Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves and its acquisition of reserves,
1913-1945. The British Ecological
Society papers relate to its Nature Conservation and Nature Reserves Committee,
which Tansley chaired, and its preparation of a
report on nature conservation and reserves for the Society during the Second
World War. A folder of maps of nature
reserves appears to relate to the work of the Scientific Policy Committee of
the Nature Conservancy, 1954-1955. The
only other significant group of papers relates to the Magdalen
Philosophy Club: principally typescript drafts relating to papers given to the
Club by Tansley and others including the zoologist
and neurophysiologist J.Z. Young.
Visits and conferences
material relates to only three expeditions and one conference over the extended
period, 1905-1955. Almost all the
material relates to the International Phytogeographical
Excursion in the USA,
August and September 1913, including excursion programmes for the six sections
of the expedition, press-cuttings and photographs.
Correspondence covers an
extensive period, 1854-1955, though the earliest correspondence, 1854-1855,
might best be described as kept with the Tansley
archive rather than integral to it.
There is a chronological sequence of correspondence, 1901-1955, which
includes single letters or very small numbers of letters from leading botanists
and ecologists from the first half of the twentieth-century, including F.F.
Blackman, V.H. Blackman, F.O. Bower, L. Cockayne, H.
Godwin, E.M. Nicholson, F.W. Oliver, W.G. Smith, D.T. Gwynne-Vaughan and A.S.
Watt. Correspondence presented by named
individuals features two correspondents: the philosopher Herbert Spencer with
whom Tansley corresponded as a young man, 1895-1896,
and the pioneering American ecologist F.E. Clements, 1905-1952. The bulk of the Clements’
correspondence is from his period as head of the botany department at the University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis (to
1917) and the final letters in the sequence are from Clements’ widow: he
died in 1945. Under the heading ‘Miscellaneous’ are presented
groups of letters and sometimes related papers found in a number of folders and
an envelope. The 1854-1855
correspondence was found in an envelope inscribed ‘Building Laboratories
1854’ and ‘Downing St site’ and comprises correspondence from
heads of colleges to the Vice-Chancellor, University of Cambridge, about
contributions towards the fund for the erection of additional lecture rooms and
museums in the university. The other
groups are ‘English Veg[etatio]n Various. Notes. Lists,
Letters’, predominantly correspondence 1907-1921; ‘Miscellaneous
letters etc.’, 1923-1952, including letters from A.S. Watt; and
‘Valuable letters on Botanical Topics’, 1928-1937, including letter
and data from J. Braun-Blanquet and letters from A.
Arber, F.E. Clements and A.S. Watt.
Arrangement
By section as follows: Biographical,
Notes and notebooks, Psychology, Publications, Lectures and broadcasts,
Societies and organisations, Visits and conferences, Correspondence. Index of correspondents.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE
Access: Access to holders
of full Reader's Tickets for Cambridge University Library .
Language: English
Finding aids: Printed
Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of Sir Arthur George Tansley. NCUACS
catalogue no. 172/3/09, 74pp. Copies available from NCUACS, University of Bath
ALLIED MATERIALS
In same repository
In 1992 the NCUACS catalogued
the papers of Tansley’s student, Alexander
Stuart Watt for Cambridge University Library (NCUACS no. 38/6/92).
5
Taylor, Sir Geoffrey Ingram, 1886-1975. Knight.
Aerodynamicist.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository:
Library, Trinity College,
Cambridge.
Reference code: GB 0016 TAYLOR
Title:
Papers and correspondence of Sir Geoffrey Ingram Taylor, 1886-1975.
Dates
of creation of material: 1777-1975.
Extent:
14 boxes
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Taylor was born in St John's Wood, London
and was descended through his mother from George Boole. He was educated at University College
School, London
and Trinity College,
Cambridge,
where he was elected to a Fellowship in 1910. He was Meteorologist to the Scotia
expedition to the North Atlantic in 1913.
During the First World War he was engaged in experimental aeronautics at the
Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough until 1917 when he left to become a
meteorological adviser to the Royal Flying Corps. In 1919 he resumed his
academic career at Cambridge
and for most of his career he held research posts, notably the Yarrow Research
Professorship of the Royal Society to which he was appointed in 1923. He was
thus almost wholly absolved from routine teaching, administrative, departmental
or institutional tasks, and free to pursue whatever research suggested itself,
or was suggested to him. He had the help of a technician and a room in the
Cavendish Laboratory, originally made available by Rutherford, who described Taylor as being 'paid
provided that he does no work'. His Royal Society memorialist
G.K. Batchelor summed up the research achievement as
follows: 'he occupied a leading place in applied mathematics, in classical
physics and in engineering science ... Taylor's work is of the greatest
importance to the mechanics of fluids and solids and to their application in
meteorology, oceanography, aeronautics, metal physics, mechanical engineering
and chemical engineering.' (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal
Society, 22, 565). Taylor's
interest in sailing led to his invention of the CQR anchor. During the Second
World War he advised government departments and the armed forces on a wide
range of applied physics problems and worked at Los Alamos, New Mexico
with the group making the first nuclear explosion, 1944-1945.
Taylor was
elected FRS in 1919 (Bakerian Lecture 1923, Royal
Medal 1933, Copley Medal 1944). He was knighted in 1944 and appointed to the
Order of Merit in 1969.
See The Life and Legacy of G.I. Taylor by George Batchelor
(Cambridge,
1996).
Custodial history
Received for cataloguing in 1976-1977 from Professor G.K. Batchelor, Taylor's
scientific executor, Royal Society memorialist and
biographer. Placed in Trinity
College in 1979.
A little additional material added by G.K. Batchelor,
in 1994 and 1996.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The surviving records are variable in content and time-span
and reflect Taylor's
research methods and the lack of formal obligations which meant that he had no
office or secretarial help. The documents include a few notebooks, including
that kept on the 1913 meteorological expedition on the Scotia,
reports and articles (many unpublished) and a useful body of scientific
correspondence some of which was especially assembled by Professor Batchelor. The personal material includes documents
relating to a little known episode in 1911 when Taylor was obliged to spend several months in
a sanatorium with a lung infection, and a considerable amount of information
relating to the Taylor and Boole families. There are also numerous photographs
which are a useful additional record of Taylor's
family, career, travels and interests.
Arrangement
By section as follows: Biographical and personal, Notebooks,
working notes and patents, Reports, articles and papers, Scientific
correspondence, Photographs, film and tape. Index of correspondents.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE
Access:
By appointment only.
Language:
English
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of Sir Geoffry Ingram Taylor: CSAC catalogue no. 67/5/79, 99
pp. Copies available from NCUACS, University of Bath
ALLIED MATERIALS
In other repositories
An interview with Taylor (8
CDs), made by the Science Studies Unit at the University
of Edinburgh.1969-1971, is held by the
University of Edinburgh Special Collections (ref: GB
0237 Science Studies Oral History Project Da 55 SCI
2).
A model of the CQR anchor and papers relating to its design have been
deposited with the National Maritime Museum,
London.
Publication note
Trinity College webpage for
Taylor
Thompson, Sir Harold Warris,
1908-1983. Knight. Physical chemist.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository:
Library, Royal Society, London.
Reference code: GB 0117 Thompson papers
Title:
Papers and correspondence of Sir Harold Warris
Thompson, 1908-1983
Dates
of creation of material: 1934-1984
Extent:
96 boxes. 40 shelf feet
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Thompson was born in Wombwell,
South Yorkshire and educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield and Trinity
College, Oxford where his tutor was C.N. Hinshelwood .
He gained first class honours in Natural Sciences (Chemistry) in 1929. He then
spent a year researching in Berlin with F.
Haber before returning to Oxford to take up a
Fellowship at St John's
College. Thompson quickly
established himself as one of the finest teachers in the university and many of
his students went on to great scientific distinction and included F.S. Dainton, C.F. Kearton, J.W. Linnett, R.E. Richards and D.H. Whiffen
all of whom became Fellows of the Royal Society. Thompson's main research
interest in Berlin had been gas reactions but
on his return to Oxford
he focused his research activity in the area of chemical spectroscopy and in
particular work on the infrared. During the Second World War he worked for the
Ministry of Aircraft Production in collaboration with G.B.B.M. Sutherland on
the infrared spectroscopic analysis of enemy aviation fuels, and in 1943 he and
Sutherland were members of a British scientific mission which visited the USA on behalf
of the Ministry. After the war Thompson continued to play a major role in
demonstrating how infrared spectra might be applied to a very wide range of
chemical studies. He contributed to international science as Foreign Secretary
of the Royal Society, 1965-1971, when the Society's overseas activities were
greatly expanded, and as President of International Council of Scientific
Unions (ICSU), 1963-1966 and of International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
(IUPAC), 1973-1975. Throughout his life Thompson gave devoted service to
football, from amateur player in his youth to Chairman of the Football
Association, 1976-1981.
Thompson was elected FRS in 1946 (Davy Medal 1965) and was knighted in 1968.
Custodial history
Received for cataloguing in 1986 from Lady Thompson, widow
via St John's College,
Oxford.
Placed in the Royal Society Library in 1988.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The papers are extensive but by no means comprehensive. There
is no personal or biographical material and very little record of Thompson's
research. On the other hand his contributions to international science and
football are extensively documented. There is a very full record of Thompson's
Foreign Secretaryship of the Royal Society and his
organisation of the European chemical conferences (EUCHEM) and substantial
documentation of his work for ICSU and IUPAC, including the Commission on
Molecular Spectroscopy and the Triple Commission on Spectroscopy. Thompson's contributions
to international relations were not limited to science (or football) and he
kept detailed records of his Chairmanship from 1972 of the Great Britain - China Committee (later Great Britain -
China Centre). The football papers are substantial, particularly for the last
decade of Thompson's life, and thus there is full documentation of his
Chairmanship of the Football Association and of the many problems facing
football at that time, including hooliganism amongst its supporters.
Arrangement
By section as follows: Research and teaching, Royal Society,
Societies and organisations, Visits and conferences, Football Association.
Index of correspondents.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE
Access:
Papers retain the period of confidentiality agreed at time
of the deposit. All new deposits closed for 30 years except by permission of
Officers of the Royal Society or the person controlling access.
Language:
English
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of Sir
Harold Warris Thompson: NCUACS catalogue no. 2/1/88,
210 pp. Copies available from NCUACS, University of Bath
Thompson, John Harold Crossley,
1909-1975. Mathematician.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository:
College Archives, Wadham College,
Parks Road, Oxford.
Reference code: GB 0476 200/1
Title:
Papers and correspondence of John Harold Crossley
Thompson, 1909-1975.
Dates
of creation of material: 1927-1935
Extent:
3 boxes
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Thompson was born in Yorkshire and educated at New College,
Oxford. He was
Mathematics Tutor and Fellow, Wadham
College, Oxford, 1936-1975. He was
Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Oxford
University in 1964.
Custodial history
Received for cataloguing in 1975 from Mrs K. Thompson,
widow. Placed in the College Archives in 1975.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The papers consist of notes taken by Thompson as
undergraduate and graduate student at Oxford University
on lectures by T.W. Chaundy (q.v.), G.H. Hardy, E.A.
Milne (q.v.) and others.
Arrangement:
The material is not sectionalised.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE
Access:
Please contact in advance, preferably by post, the Keeper of
the College Archives, or email in advance to Librarian@wadh.ox.ac.uk.
Language:
English
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of John
Harold Crossley Thompson: CSAC catalogue no.
34/11/75, 4pp. Copies available from NCUACS, University of Bath
Thompson, Sir Michael Warwick b.1931. Knight.
Physicist.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository:
Special Collections, University
of Birmingham
Library. Reference code: GB 0150 US 14
Title:
Papers and correspondence of Sir Michael Warwick Thompson b.1931.
Dates
of creation of material: 1949-1991.
Extent:
12 boxes
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Thompson was born on 1 June 1931. He was educated at Rydal School
and the University
of Liverpool where in
1953 he was awarded a first class honours degree in physics and was also Oliver
Lodge Prize-winner. That same year he became a research scientist at the Atomic
Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Berkshire
and remained there until 1965, conducting research into atomic collision
phenomena in solids. In 1963 Thompson was awarded a D.Sc. in physics from the University of Liverpool
and also in that year was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics.
From 1965 to 1980 Thompson worked at the University
of Sussex, Brighton.
He was Professor of Experimental Physics from 1965 to 1980 (Visiting Professor
of Experimental Physics from 1980-1986) and he served as Pro-Vice-Chancellor
from 1973 to 1977 (acting Vice-Chancellor in 1976). In 1980 Thompson was
appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University
of East Anglia, Norwich. In 1987 he moved to the University of Birmingham as Vice-Chancellor and
Principal, retiring in 1996.
Thompson was knighted in 1991.
Custodial history
Received for cataloguing in July 1997 through the good
offices of Christine Penney, University Archivist, University of Birmingham.
Returned to Birmingham
University Library in
1997.
CONTENT
HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The bulk of the material relates to Thompson's research and
consists of notebooks, research papers and reports covering the period 1954 to
1986. The notebooks, 1957-1986, consist of rough notes on research carried out
at AERE Harwell and the University
of Sussex. There are also
three notebooks of experimental results kept while Thompson was visiting Atomic
Energy of Canada Limited, Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, Ontario in 1968. The research papers cover a
similar period and were generally categorised by Thompson as either theoretical
or experimental. The reports are United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Reports
and relate to work carried out at AERE, Harwell. They were produced in the
period 1957 to 1969. There is also publications material 1949-1991 including
significant documentation of Thompson's book Defects and radiation damage in
metals, (Cambridge University Press, 1969) and documentation of his lecture
'Violence and disorder in the solid state' presented as the Ninth John Waddell
Lecture at The Royal Military College of Canada, Port Frederick, Kingston,
Ontario in May 1985. There is also a set of Thompson's off-prints. Thompson's period
at the University
of Sussex is represented
by administrative and teaching material 1973-1980.
Arrangement:
By section as follows: Research, Publications and lecture, University of Sussex. Index of correspondents.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE:
Access:
A Special Collections manuscript reader's card is required
for access to all the archives and mansucript
collections. Cards are issued on production of a letter of
introduction and recommendation from a person of recognised position.
Booking is not required but it is advisable to make contact in advance of any
visit. Email: special-collections@bham.ac.uk.
Language:
English
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of Sir
Michael Warwick Thompson: NCUACS catalogue no. 71/9/97, 36 pp.
Copies available from NCUACS, University
of Bath
Thomson, Sir George Paget, 1892-1975. Knight.
Physicist.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository:
Library, Trinity College,
Cambridge. Reference
code: GB 0016 G.P. THOMSON
Title:
Papers and correspondence of Sir George Paget Thomson, 1892-1975.
Dates
of creation of material: 1905-1977.
Extent:
60 boxes.
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Thomson was born into a family of great scientific distinction.
His father, Sir Joseph Thomson, 'J.J.', was one of the
foremost physicists of the day and a great influence on him. Thomson, 'G.P.' as
he was always known, was educated at the Perse School
and Trinity College,
Cambridge where
he read mathematics and physics. He then began research at the Cavendish
Laboratory under his father's supervision, and was elected Fellow and
Mathematical Lecturer at Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge in 1914. After a period of service
in France
with The Queen's Regiment he was attached to the Royal Flying Corps at the
Royal Aircraft Factory (later Establishment), 1915-1919.
After the First World War he returned to Cambridge
to continue his research and in 1922 was appointed Professor of Natural
Philosophy at the University
of Aberdeen. Here his
most famous work was done, on electron diffraction by thin films. He was
Professor of Physics at Imperial College, London,
1930-1952, with secondment during the Second World War on various official duties
including the Chairmanship of the Maud Committee which reported on the
feasibility of an atomic weapon. Later, he made significant contributions to
research on thermonuclear reactions. In 1952 Thomson returned to Corpus Christi College as Master. He remained there
until 1962 and spent his retirement in Cambridge.
He was elected FRS in 1930 (Bakerian Lecture 1948,
Rutherford Memorial Lecture 1964, Hughes Medal 1939, Royal Medal 1949) and was
awarded the 1937 Nobel Prize for Physics (jointly with C.J. Davisson) for their
experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals. He was
knighted in 1943.
Custodial history
Received in 1979 from the Thomson family via Trinity College,
Cambridge.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The papers are extensive and cover many aspects of Thomson's
career and research. They include his unpublished autobiography, school and
undergraduate notebooks, notebooks, drafts and photographs documenting his work
on electron diffraction, manuscript notes and drafts on thermonuclear research,
extensive notes and drafts for talks and writings on the history and social
aspects of science, and also material relating to Thomson's involvement with
the Voluntary Euthanasia Society. Unfortunately the full range of his correspondence
(including that on electron diffraction) has not survived.
Arrangement
By section as follows: Biographical and autobiographical,
Early notebooks and research, Electron diffraction, Nuclear Physics and the
Second World War, Thermonuclear research, Scientific lectures and writings,
History of physics and physicists, Science-related interests, Correspondence,
Plates, slides and photographs. Index of correspondents.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE:
Access:
By appointment only.
Language:
English
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of Sir
George Paget Thomson: CSAC catalogue no. 75/5/80, 167 pp. Copies
available from NCUACS, University
of Bath
ALLIED MATERIALS
In other repositories:
Thomson's original electron diffraction camera was deposited
in the Science Museum,
London in 1948.
Material relating to the Maud Committee was deposited at Churchill College,
Cambridge at
the request of J.D. Cockcroft in 1966.
Publication note:
Trinity
College webpage for
G.P. Thomson
Thomson, Sir Joseph John, 1856-1940. Knight.
Physicist.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository:
Library, Trinity College,
Cambridge. Reference code: GB 0016 J.J. THOMSON
Title:
Papers and correspondence of Sir Joseph John Thomson, 1856-1940
Dates
of creation of material: 1906-1970
Extent:
6 boxes
CONTEXT
Biographical history
'J.J.' Thomson was one of the foremost physicists of his
day. His name is principally remembered for the discovery of the electron and
for his work on gaseous exchanges. He was born in Manchester
and educated at Owen's College (a forerunner of Manchester University). In 1875 at the age of
nineteen he went with a scholarship to Trinity
College, Cambridge where he remained for the rest of
his life. After graduating in mathematics in 1880 he worked at the Cavendish
Laboratory under Rayleigh, succeeding him as Cavendish Professor of
Experimental Physics in 1884, and his guidance of the Cavendish Laboratory for
a generation (until 1919) established its international reputation as a
research school. He was Master of Trinity from 1918 until his death in 1940.
Thomson was elected FRS in 1884 (Bakerian Lecture
1913, Royal Medal 1894, Hughes Medal 1902, Copley Medal 1914, PRS 1915-1920).
In 1906 Thomson was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his investigation
of the conduction of electricity by gases. He was knighted in 1908 and
appointed to the Order of Merit in 1912.
Custodial history
Received in 1979 from the Thomson family via Trinity College,
Cambridge.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The surviving material is, unfortunately, somewhat scanty.
It includes a little personal and college correspondence, some notes and drafts
particularly for his book Conduction of electricity through gases (first
published by Thomson in 1897, third edition with his son G.P. Thomson in 1928),
and various biographical accounts of Thomson and the discovery of the electron,
several by his son.
Arrangement
By section as follows: Personal material and correspondence,
Notes and drafts for publications, Scientific correspondence, Accounts and
biographies of Thomson, Published works. Index of correspondents.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE:
Access:
By appointment only.
Language:
English
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of Sir
Joseph John Thomson: CSAC catalogue no. 74/4/80, 14 pp. Copies available
from NCUACS, University
of Bath
ALLIED MATERIALS:
Publication note:
Trinity College webpage for
J.J. Thomson.
Tinbergen, Nikolaas,
1907-1988. Ethologist.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository: Bodleian Library, Oxford. Reference code: GB 0161 N. Tinbergen
papers
Title: Papers and correspondence of Nikolaas Tinbergen, 1907-1988.
Dates
of creation of material: 1920-1990.
Extent:
Original material: 54 boxes.
Supplementary material: 5 boxes
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Tinbergen was born in The
Hague. After secondary school he spent a couple of
months in autumn 1925 at the Rositten observatory, East Prussia, which
pioneered the scientific ringing of birds. This experience of biological
fieldwork persuaded him to study zoology at Leiden University.
In 1931 he was appointed 'assistent' in the Leiden
Zoology Department and in 1932 he was awarded his Ph.D. for homing studies on Philanthus wasps. Married in 1932, Tinbergen and his wife
spent fourteen months in Greenland studying
the snow bunting, the red-necked phalarope and husky. Returning to Leiden he taught
experimental zoology and animal behaviour until 1949, by which time he was
Professor and Head of Department. His career was interrupted during the Second
World War when he was imprisoned as a hostage by the German occupation
authorities. In 1949 he resigned his Professorship at Leiden
and accepted a lecturership in the department of A.C.
Hardy (q.v.) at Oxford
University, where he
remained for the rest of his career. He was appointed Professor of Animal
Behaviour in 1966 and retired in 1974.
Tinbergen was one of the founding fathers of modern ethology.
At Leiden he
developed laboratory work, in which the three-spined
stickleback proved a particularly successful experimental animal, and field
studies initiating projects on wasps, butterflies and hobbies. His work on the
breeding behaviour of herring gulls also dates from this period and, like the
stickleback research, became one of the classics of ethology.
He spent the spring of 1937 working with K.Z. Lorenz at Altenberg
near Vienna, an
association that was to have the greatest importance for their science. After
the move to Oxford,
Tinbergen built up a research group that had a profound influence on the
development of ethology round the world. In
particular, his research focused on the adaptedness
of behaviour; the work on the herring gull initiated in the Netherlands
developed into comparative studies of many gull species. His most influential
book, The Study of Instinct, appeared in 1951 and he also wrote books
for the educated layman and made scientific films such as the Italia Prize
winner 'Signals for Survival' (1969). Tinbergen became increasingly preoccupied
with the implications of the ethological approach for man, and in retirement he
and his wife collaborated on a study of childhood autism publishing Autistic
children - new hope for a cure in 1983.
Tinbergen was elected FRS in 1962 (Croonian
Lecture 1972) and awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize for Medicine (jointly with
Lorenz and K. von Frisch) for their discoveries concerning organisation and
elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns.
Custodial history
Original material: Received for cataloguing in 1989 from Mrs
Elisabeth Tinbergen, widow. Placed in the Bodleian Library 1991.
Supplementary material: Received in 1998 from the Zoology Department, Oxford University
via the Bodleian Library. Returned to the Bodleian Library 1998.
Further supplementary material: Received from the Department
of Zoology, Oxford
University in October 2003 (subsequently Professor Robert Hinde
made available his Tinbergen correspondence file).
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The papers have significant Dutch material before the move
to Oxford, including letters from Tinbergen to
his family from East Prussia 1925, Greenland 1932-1933, Altenberg
1937 and the hostage camp 1942. Tinbergen's research is represented by
documentation of field observations and laboratory experiments in the Netherlands and Britain. The field notes, for
example, date from 1928 and are characterised by Tinbergen's thumb-nail
sketches of the subjects of his observations. There are records of his
university teaching and invitation and public lectures from the Oxford period, including his contributions to the new
multidisciplinary School
of Human Sciences. The
autism investigation is very extensively documented by nearly twenty years'
correspondence with scientific colleagues, therapists and others responsible
for the care and treatment of autistic children, and drafts of Tinbergen's
lectures, articles and monograph on the subject. General scientific
correspondence is by contrast slight. The correspondence with Lorenz, E. Mayr and Tinbergen's brother Jan, who was awarded the 1969
Nobel Prize for Economics, though disappointing in extent, is probably the most
significant. There are also Tinbergen's sketches of his fellow Second World War
hostages, and drawings for his children's books about Kliew
the seagull (New York 1947) and The
Tale of John Stickle (London
1954).
Supplementary Papers
The papers relate entirely to the latter part of
Tinbergen’s career at Oxford
and document aspects of his career unrepresented in the original collection of
papers including research funding, societies and organisations and visits and
conferences.
There are papers relating to the funding of Tinbergen’s research at
the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, 1959-1975. They
illustrate Tinbergen’s personal research areas, his interest in the production
of scientific films as an educational tool, the advancement of ethological
studies in general and the application of ethological principles to the study
of mankind. The papers include correspondence, application forms, reports
and financial statements. Research funding bodies with which Tinbergen
dealt include the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, the Science
Research Council, the Medical Research Council, the Nature Conservancy and the
United States Air Force, European Office of Aerospace Research, Brussels, Belgium.
A number of Tinbergen’s associations with professional and public
bodies are documented in the supplementary collection. These include the Department
of Science and Industrial Research (from 1965 the Science Research Council) in
connexion with Tinbergen’s membership of a Working Party on Animal
Behaviour Research, the Nuffield Foundation in connexion with his participation
in the Science Teaching Project where he was a member of the School Biology
Project Consultative Committee, the Royal Society including his participation
in a Royal Society study group that discussed current research in non-verbal
communication in animals and man, and the Serengeti Research Institute which
Tinbergen served as a member of its Scientific Council. Visits and
conferences material consists mainly of correspondence, 1962-1970, relating to
the organisation of the biannual International Ethological Conferences.
There is also a group of photographs featuring delegates of the Fourteenth
International Ornithological Congress held at Oxford in 1966. Tinbergen was the
Secretary General of the Congress.
Further
supplementary papers
There are additional research papers and correspondence.
The additional research material is an important group of
correspondence and papers relating to the work of Tinbergen’s Animal
Behaviour Research Group, Department of Zoology, Oxford University. There is a sequence of annual reports,
1952-1975, and correspondence with sponsoring and funding bodies such as the
Nature Conservancy (E.M. Nicholson), Natural Environment Research Council and
Science Research Council, 1959-1975.
There is correspondence and papers relating to Tinbergen’s research
sites such as Scolt Head, Norfolk
(one letter only), Ravenglass and Walney
Nature Reserves in Cumbria
and Skomer Nature Reserve, Pembrokeshire. There is also a small group of papers of D.J.
McFarland, Tinbergen’s successor as head of the Animal Behaviour Research
Group, especially relating to research on herring gull behaviour at Walney.
The additional correspondence comprises Professor R.A. Hinde’s Tinbergen correspondence file, principally
Tinbergen’s letters to Hinde relating to
research, publications, visits, conferences, etc with a very few manuscript
draft replies by Hinde, 1951-2000. Posthumous material includes obituaries of
Tinbergen and a draft of Hinde’s biographical
memoir of Tinbergen for the Royal Society with comments by his widow,
1988-1989. A letter from Hans Kruuk, 30 October 2000, returns the correspondence file to Hinde. The file had
been lent to him in connexion with the preparation of Kruuk’s
biography of Tinbergen: Niko’s
Nature, a Life of Niko Tinbergen and his Science of
Animal Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2003.
Arrangement:
By section as follows: Biographical, Research, Lectures,
publications and broadcasts, Autism, Correspondence. Index of correspondents.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE
Access:
Entry permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's
card or an Oxford University Card displaying the Bodleian logo. All applicants
for new or replacement cards must apply in person, with a recommendation and
payment if required, and with proof of their identity.
Some items not available until 2016 or 2066.
Language:
English. In part in Dutch and German.
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogues of the papers and correspondence of Nikolaas Tinbergen: NCUACS catalogue no. 27/3/91, 90 pp;
NCUACS supplementary catalogue no. 79/8/98, 30 pp; Second supplementary
catalogue no. 163/6/2008, 26pp. Copies available from NCUACS, University of Bath
ALLIED MATERIALS
In other repositories:
A collection of Tinbergen's photographs are held in the Rijks Voorlichts Dienst- Foto en Film archief, The Hague,
Netherlands.
Titchmarsh, Edward
Charles, 1899-1963. Mathematician.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository:
The Library, New College, Oxford. Reference code: GB 0464 PA/T.1
Title:
Papers and correspondence of Edward Charles Titchmarsh,
1899-1963
Dates
of creation of material: 1922-1962
Extent:
1 box
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Titchmarsh was born in Newbury and
educated at King Edward
VII School,
Sheffield, 1908-1917, and Balliol College, Oxford
where he read mathematics interrupted by war service in the Royal Engineers
(Signals). After holding posts at University
College, London,
1923-1929, and Liverpool University, 1929-1931, he returned to Oxford as Savilian
Professor of Geometry and Fellow of New College, 1931-1963. He was President of
the London Mathematical Society, 1945-1947. His research was on Fourier
integrals, integral equations, Fourier series, integral functions, the Riemann
zeta function, and eigenfunctions of second order
differential equations. He was elected FRS in 1931 (Sylvester Medal 1953).
Custodial history
Received for cataloguing in 1976 from Mrs Kathleen Titchmarsh, widow. Placed in New College Library
1976.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The papers are not extensive, and include biographical
material, mathematical lectures and papers, speeches, and a little
correspondence, including some exchanged with G.H. Hardy, Titchmarsh's
friend, colleague and fellow-cricketer, and his predecessor in the Savilian Chair.
Arrangement
By section as follows: Biographical and personal,
Mathematical lectures and papers, Publications and talks. Index of
correspondents.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE
Access:
The Warden and Fellows of New College permit any bona fide
professional or amateur historian with a research need to consult the archives
subject to any restriction on materials in the collection. Opening
hours: weekdays from 10.00-1.00 and 2.00-5.15.
Language:
English, one item (at A.5) in Russian
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of Edward
Charles Titchmarsh: CSAC catalogue no. 44/8/76, 4
pp. Copies available from NCUACS, University of Bath
ALLIED MATERIALS
In other repositories
A memoir of her husband, compiled by Mrs Titchmarsh
from family letters is also held at New
College.
Tolansky, Samuel,
1907-1973. Physicist.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository:
University of London Library, Malet Street, London.
Reference code: GB 0096 MS. 827
Title:
Papers and correspondence of Samuel Tolansky,
1907-1973.
Dates
of creation of material: 1926-1974.
Extent:
22 boxes
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Tolansky was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and educated there at Rutherford College
(Boys' School), 1919-1925, and Armstrong
College (then part of Durham University),
1925-1929, where he undertook his first research under W.E. Curtis, 1929-1931.
In 1931 he was awarded the Earl Grey Fellowship of Durham University to work in
F. Paschen's laboratory at the Physikalisch-Technische
Reichanstalt in Berlin. After a year in Berlin
he worked for two years in A. Fowler's laboratory at Imperial
College, London supported by an 1851 Exhibition Senior
Studentship. In 1934 he moved to Manchester
University where he
joined the physics department as Assistant Lecturer under W.L. Bragg, and was
subsequently promoted Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Reader. In 1947 he left Manchester on his election to the Chair of Physics at Royal Holloway
College, London where he remained for the rest of his
life. In 1951 he exhibited quartz oscillators and other material in the Science
Section of the Festival of Britain. He wrote, lectured and broadcast
prolifically, held many consultancies with industrial firms and undertook much
examining work at London University and many other universities in Britain and
overseas. His research encompassed spectroscopy, multiple beam interferometry, studies on diamond and in his last years,
1968-1973, lunar dust and the Moon's surface. He was elected FRS in 1952.
Custodial history
Received in 1973-1975 from Mrs Ottilie
Tolansky, widow and the Department of Physics, Royal Holloway
College, London.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The papers cover all aspects of Tolansky's
activities and interests. They include biographical material, material relating
to Tolansky's department at Royal Holloway College,
notebooks and working papers, 1935-1969, and many drafts for publications,
reviews and broadcast talks (some additional to those listed in the official bibliography
of the Royal Society memoir). There is material relating to Tolansky's
service on many committees and advisory boards and to conferences,
demonstrations and exhibitions. There is extensive correspondence with
professional colleagues, scientific instrument manufacturers, industrial firms,
publishers, and many members of the general public via his popular writings,
children's lectures and radio and television programmes.
Arrangement
By section as follows: Biographical and personal, Royal
Holloway College London, Notebooks and working papers, Publications, Committee
and advisory bodies, External examining, Conferences, demonstrations and
exhibitions, Scientific correspondence, Publications correspondence, Lectures,
broadcasts and television. Index of correspondents.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE
Access:
Access to the items in the collection is unrestricted for
the purpose of private study and personal research within the controlled
environment and restrictions of the Palaeography Room.
Language:
English
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of Samuel
Tolansky: CSAC catalogue no. 24/1/75, 36 pp.
Copies available from NCUACS, University
of Bath
ALLIED MATERIALS
In other repositories
Papers held in the College Archives, Royal Holloway, University of London,
Egham, Surrey:
'This collection includes mainly his research papers from the 1960s on
multiple-beam interferometry and diamond physics,
plus a series of some general notes. There is little material concerning his
early work on spectroscopy or later work on lunar dust. There is also a copy of
a biographical article on Samuel Tolansky by R.W. Ditchburn and G.D. Rochester. This list expands on an
earlier version (see PP22/10/1). There is no record of when the papers were deposited
in the Archives'. Reference: PP/22. 6 archive boxes.
Townsend, Sir John Sealy Edward, 1868-1957. Knight.
Physicist.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository: Bodleian Library, Oxford. Reference code: GB 0161 J.S.E. Townsend
papers
Title: Papers and correspondence of Sir John Sealy Edward Townsend,
1868-1957
Dates of creation of material: 1914-1957
Extent: 1 box.
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Townsend was born in Galway, Ireland and educated at Corrig School
and Trinity College,
Dublin where he
read mathematics, mathematical physics and experimental science, 1885-1890.
During the following four years he was a Fellowship Prizeman engaged in
teaching, particularly mathematics. In 1895 he entered Trinity
College, Cambridge and became one of the research
students of J.J. Thomson at the Cavendish Laboratory.
In 1898 he was made Clerk Maxwell Scholar and a year later Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge.
In 1900 he was elected to become the first holder of the Wykeham
Chair of Physics at Oxford
University, a position he
held until his retirement in 1941. He was also Fellow of New College, Oxford, 1900-1941.
Townsend's research field was the kinetics of electrons and ions in gases.
During the First World War he worked for several years at Woolwich, researching
on wireless telegraphy for the Royal Navy Air Service.
He was elected FRS in 1903 (Hughes Medal 1914) and knighted in 1941.
Custodial history
Received for cataloguing in 1973 from the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Returned to
the Bodleian Library in 1974.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The papers are not extensive, consisting of patents and
contracts from Britain, France, Italy
and USA,
1914-1925. There are some manuscript notes and drafts of publications,
including an extensively corrected typescript of 'Theory of waves in gases',
the book on sound on which Townsend was working during his last years.
Arrangement
By section as follows: Biographical, Publications,
Correspondence and Patents and contracts.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE
Access:
Entry permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's
card or an Oxford University Card displaying the Bodleian logo. All applicants
for new or replacement cards must apply in person, with a recommendation and
payment if required, and with proof of their identity.
Language:
English
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of Sir
John Sealy Edward Townsend: CSAC catalogue no. 8/2/74, 3 pp. Copies
available from NCUACS, University
of Bath
Turing, Alan Mathison,
1912-1954. Mathematician and computer scientist.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository: Library, King's College, Cambridge . Reference code: GB
0272 AMT
Title: Papers and
correspondence of and relating to Alan Mathison
Turing, 1912-1954.
Dates of creation of
material: ca 1918-1997.
Extent: 6 boxes, 1
oversize item, 1 volume.
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Turing was born in London and educated at Sherborne,
1926-1931 and King's College, Cambridge
where he read mathematics. He was elected Fellow of King's in 1935. He began
research in mathematical logic which led to his well-known work on computable
numbers and the 'Turing Machine'. He spent two years at Princeton University,
1936-1938, working with A. Church, and the war years at Bletchley Park,
at the Code and Cypher School, 1939-1945, and was
awarded the OBE for his work on 'Enigma' and other codes. At the end of the war
he declined a Cambridge University Lectureship and joined the group that was
being formed at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington
for the design, construction and use of a large automatic computing machine. In
his three years at the NPL, 1945-1948, he made the first design of the ACE
computer and did much of the pioneering work in the design of sub-routines. In
1948 he was appointed Reader in Mathematics at Manchester University
where work was beginning on the construction of a large computer by F.C. Williams
and T. Kilburn. Towards the end of his life Turing was increasingly interested
in morphogenesis. He was elected FRS in 1951.
See The
Alan Turing Homepage.
See Proceedings of the
British Computer Society conference 'Alan Mathison
Turing 2004: A celebration of his life and achievements', Manchester, 5 June 2004.
Custodial history
Received
from several sources, 1960-1999.
See Scope and content summary.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The papers comprise six deposits.
Letters and other material presented in 1960
by Mrs Sara Turing, Turing's mother and biographer.
Papers and correspondence catalogued by the
CSAC in 1977. These include some biographical material, manuscript notes and
drafts of published and unpublished work, and correspondence. Most of the
working papers relate to the period from about 1940 until his death though
there are a few references in correspondence to his work in the 1930s.
Papers and correspondence catalogued by the
CSAC in 1985. There is further biographical and personal material all
received from the estate of Mrs Sarah Turing and many items bear annotations
and corrections by her. Several refer to the preparation and publication of her
biography of her son, which was published by Heffer
of Cambridge in 1959, and include biographical information and recollections.
There is material on morphogenesis from N.E. Hoskin
which represents a substantial addition to the documentation of Turing's work
and thinking on this topic, left uncompleted at his death. There are
photocopied letters and calculations exchanged by Turing and I.J. Good made
available by Good, and some original letters by Turing, most of them addressed
to P. Hall, received from A. Hodges, author of the biography Alan Turing: The Enigma.
Assorted papers received 1984-1996
(catalogued 1996) including articles and other biographical material relating
to Turing, and off-prints of Turing's publications.
Papers from the estate of
R.O. Gandy 1996. Principally off-prints by others, some annotated by Turing.
Also 12 letters from Gandy to Turing ca 1951.
Assorted papers received 1996-1999. Includes videos of the Turing Celebration Day in Cambridge 1 October 1997.
Arrangement:
By section as follows: Material given to King's College in
1960, Biographical and personal, Publications, lectures and talks, Unpublished
manuscripts and drafts, Correspondence, Turing Celebration Day 1997. Index.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE:
Access:
Documentation consultation is by appointment only.
Intending readers should bring with them a letter of introduction and proof of
identity. Contact the Archivist, King's College, Cambridge CB2 1ST.
Language:
English
Finding aids:
Printed Catalogues of the
papers and correspondence of Alan Mathison Turing:
CSAC catalogue no. 53/7/77, 19 pp and CSAC supplementary catalogue no.
104/1/85, 16 pp. Copies available from NCUACS, University of Bath.
Now superseded by Catalogue
from King's
College Cambridge incorporating the CSAC catalogues and the additional
material catalogued 1996-1999.
The project to digitise the Turing papers and
make them available online may be viewed at the Turing Digital Archive.
Ubbelohde,
Alfred Rene Jean Paul, 1907-1988. Chemical engineer.
IDENTITY STATEMENT
Repository:
Imperial College
Archives, London.
Reference code: GB 0098 B/UBBELOHDE
Title:
Papers and correspondence of Alfred Rene Jean Paul Ubbelohde,
1907-1988
Dates
of creation of material: ca 1953-1990
Extent:
1 box
CONTEXT
Biographical history
Ubbelohde was born in Antwerp and educated at St Paul's
School and Christ Church, Oxford before
moving to the Royal Institution, London
in 1936. He was Professor of Chemistry at Queen's University, Belfast, 1946-1954, and Professor of
Thermodynamics, Imperial College London, 1954-1975 (Head of Chemical
Engineering Department, 1961-1975). Ubbelohde's
research interests included chemical thermodynamics, combustion, explosions and
detonations, ionic melts, graphite and intercalation compounds. He was elected
FRS in 1951.
Custodial history
Received for cataloguing in 1989 from Professor F.J.
Weinberg. Placed in Imperial
College Archives 1991.
CONTENT HISTORY
Scope and content summary
The papers consist of recollections and reminiscences assembled
by Professor F.J. Weinberg while preparing his Royal Society memoir of Ubbelohde.
CONDITIONS OF ACCESS & USE
Access:
Admission is by appointment only to bona fide scholars; prior proof of
status and proof of identity is required.
Language:
English
Finding
aids: Printed Catalogue of the papers and correspondence of Alfred Rene Jean
Paul Ubbelohde: NCUACS catalogue no. 32/8/91,
9pp. Copies available from NCUACS, University of Bath
Last updated 21 May 2009. T.E.Powell@bath.ac.uk