Blackett, Patrick Maynard Stuart (Blackett Patrick Maynard Stuart)

November 18, 1897, Mr.. - July 13, 1974
English physicist Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett was born in London and was the only son of three children of Arthur Stuart Blackett, a stockbroker, and Caroline Frances (nee Maynard) Blackett. In nine years Blackett began attending a small prep school in London. Then, dreaming of a career Marine, he was in 1910. entered Osbornsky Royal Maritime College, and then, in 1912. Royal Marine in Dartmouth College, where he became one of the first in class
When in 1914. outbreak of World War I, B. began naval service as a midshipman on the warship 'Carnarvon'. He participated in the battle of the Falkland Islands and Jutland, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1918, several months before the cessation of hostilities. After the war he joined the six-month course at Magdalen College (Cambridge). In the same year he resigned and began to study physics at Cambridge, graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1921
. Getting a scholarship enabled him to stay in Cambridge and work under the guidance of Ernest Rutherford's Cavendish Laboratory in the University, the leading center of study of radioactivity and atomic structure
. Here he used a condensing chamber CH.T.R. Wilson, bombarding nitrogen atoms with alpha particles (helium nuclei). The cloud chamber is a transparent cylinder filled with saturated steam and placed between the poles of an electromagnet. Charged particles passing through the vessel, creating along the way ions, which condenses steam, forming visible signs (tracks), measurable photography. B. wanted to clarify the nature of the final products of interaction between alpha-particles and nitrogen atoms. In 1924, having studied more than 25 thousand. photographic plates, he testified that the collision of alpha particles with a nitrogen atom formed hydrogen nucleus (proton) and an isotope of oxygen, thus confirming the assumption of Rutherford, that one element can artificially get another.
B. took leave in Cambridge in 1924 ... 1925. to study quantum mechanics and the spectral analysis led by James Franck at Gottingen University in Germany. On his return he continued his research in the Cavendish in 1930. a lecturer.
In 1932, Mr.. B. together with the Italian physicist Giuseppe P.S. Okyalini began to study cosmic rays. To make a camera control Wilson from the counter, they connected the two Geiger counter (one was located above the camera and the other below it) with an electrical relay, which included a camera as soon as a vessel passing charged particle. This system replaced the earlier, where photography was carried out at regular intervals, which was much less effective when registering tracks of particles in the chamber. During the year of the B. Okyalini and found traces of the positron, the positively charged particle with mass equal to the mass of an electron, thus confirming the discovery of the positron by a few months earlier, the American physicist Carl D. Anderson. Moreover, they were the first who discovered that the positrons and electrons usually appear in pairs, forming the 'showers'.
Investigating the emission of radioactive substances, B. Okyalini and noticed that the showers positron-electron pairs, seems to arise from the gamma rays (short-wave radiation emitted by the nucleus). Since the positron is usually not found on Earth, they concluded that the conversion of gamma radiation in electron-positron pair must satisfy the equation of Albert Einstein, who claims the equivalence of mass and energy (E = mc2). Thus B. Okyalini and gave the first experimental confirmation of Einstein's equations in a situation where the energy is converted into mass.
After leaving Cambridge to become professor of physics at Birkbeck College, Evening College, University of London, B. continued study of cosmic rays. In 1935 ... 1936. He served on the Committee Tizarda created by the Ministry of Aviation to improve the military air defense of Great Britain in the face of growing threat from the Luftwaffe. In 1937, Mr.. B. replaced U.L. Bragg on the post of professor of physics at the University of Manchester. During the year, he replaced most of the teachers and employees of the Faculty of Physics, . who worked in the field of X-ray crystallography, . specialization Bragg, . servants and teachers from Birkbeck College, . because he needed their help in the study of cosmic rays.,
. During the Second World War B
. left his job in a university laboratory. As the chief representative of the Department of Scientific Instrumentation, Control of the Royal Air Force, he worked on improving the precision bombing, . under the command of defense he was involved in the problem of overlapping radar systems with anti-aircraft guns, . through the British Coastal Command, . and then as director of marine operations research in the Admiralty B,
. worked on improving the antisubmarine weapons. The international reputation of B. physics contributed to his appointment to the Sub-Commission for Scientific Research Air Force, chaired by J. P. Thomson. When this subcommittee, presented in 1941. report to the Government, which insisted that the United Kingdom to take up production of atomic bombs, B. it was the only member who did not agree with this. Convinced that the government lacks the means to quickly implement the project, he recommended that the UK join forces with the United States, which was done.
After the war, B. criticized the U.S. decision to drop atomic bombs on Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, believing that this decision was prompted by political rather than military reasons, and was a 'first act of the cold diplomatic war with Russia'. He expressed his views in his book 'The military and political consequences of atomic energy' ( 'Military and Political Consequences of Atomic Energy'), which appeared in 1948. After its publication the role of B. as adviser to the Government sharply reduced for many years.
Returning to Manchester, B. resumed his studies of cosmic rays. He also proposed a new theory linking the magnetic properties of the Earth, sun and stars, but declared it bankrupt a few years later. Later he returned to the issues close to the rock magnetism - the study of magnetic materials found in ancient rock formations. According to the results obtained here, measurements of B. concluded that the shift of the poles and continental drift had indeed taken place.
B. was awarded in 1948. Nobel Prize in Physics "for the improvement of the method of the cloud chamber and made in connection with the discoveries in the field of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation '. When presenting the winner of GA. Eisingen, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, noted that the 'critical method of Wilson for research purposes was not obvious until the early 20-ies. and this change of attitude towards him is largely due to the works of B. '
B. left Manchester in 1953 to replace J. P. Thomson as head of the Physics Department of Science and Technology Imperial College London. Two years later, he became, in addition, the dean of science at King's College, member of the Imperial College, and remained in that post until 1960. In 1963, Mr.. he resigned and became an adviser to the Labor Party on Science and Technology. When the party won the general elections in 1964, B. led the Advisory Council on Technology. In 1965, Mr.. He left that post to become President of the Royal Society of London.
The last years of his life BA, who called himself a Fabian socialist, a lot of time and energy devoted Political Affairs. Elected in 1943. President of the Association of Scientific Workers, . which is part of the British Trades Union Congress, . he said, . that 'way, . through which scientists can best help change society, . - Is to divide his lot with the organized working class, . since it was he who ultimately gets the most from the development of science ',
. He often lectured on the problems of science and its relationship with society and was a member of numerous organizations, including the Council of the Institute of Overseas Development. UN Conference on the Use of Science and Technology for Economic Development, Council for Science Policy. Visiting the Association of Indian Science Congress in 1947, B. interested in the problems of development of science in India, as well as economic and political problems of this country.
In 1924, Mr.. B. married Constance Bayonne, they have a daughter and son. The man is tall, with a vigorous manner, a good speaker, B. which brings the enthusiasm of his interest in the field of life, including not only science but also political, social and economic issues. He died in London on July 13, 1974
. Among his numerous awards include the Royal Medal (1940) and Copley Medal (1956) Royal Society of London, . Medal of Merit of the U.S. government (1946), . Medal Dalton Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society (1949) and the Order of the Aztec Eagle Mexican Government (1970),
. He was a member of ten foreign scientific societies and had twenty honorary degrees. In 1965, Mr.. He was awarded the British Order of Merit and in 1969. became a life peer, Baron Blackett.