Ralph H. Fowler | |
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| Born | Ralph Howard Fowler (1889-01-17)17 January 1889 Roydon, Essex, England |
| Died | 28 July 1944(1944-07-28) (aged 55) Trumpington,Cambridgeshire, England |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Known for |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, includingRuth |
| Relatives |
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| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
| Academic advisors | Archibald Vivian Hill |
| Doctoral students | |
Sir Ralph Howard Fowler (17 January 1889 – 28 July 1944) was an Englishphysicist.
Ralph H. Fowler was born atRoydon,Essex, on 17 January 1889 to Howard Fowler, fromBurnham,Somerset, and Frances Eva, daughter of George Dewhurst, a cotton merchant fromManchester.[3] He was initially educated at home, going on to attend Evans' preparatory school at Horris Hill andWinchester College. He won a scholarship toTrinity College, Cambridge and studied mathematics, becoming awrangler in Part II of theMathematical Tripos.
InWorld War I he obtained a commission in theRoyal Marine Artillery and was seriously wounded in his shoulder in theGallipoli campaign. The wound enabled his friendArchibald Hill to use his talents properly. As Hill's second in command he worked on anti-aircraft ballistics in theAnti-Aircraft Experimental Section ofHMSExcellent onWhale Island. He made a major contribution on theaerodynamics of spinning shells. He was awarded theOBE in 1918.[4]
In 1919, Fowler returned to Trinity and was appointed college lecturer in mathematics in 1920. Here he worked onthermodynamics andstatistical mechanics, bringing a new approach to physical chemistry. WithArthur Milne, a comrade during the war, he wrote a seminal work on stellar spectra, temperatures, and pressures. In 1925 he was made a Fellow of theRoyal Society.[1] He became research supervisor toPaul Dirac and, in 1926, worked with him on the statistical mechanics ofwhite dwarf stars. In 1927 he was one of the participants of the fifthSolvay Conference on Physics that took place at the International Solvay Institute for Physics in Belgium. In 1928 he published (withLothar Nordheim) a seminal paper that explained the physical phenomenon now known asfield electron emission, and helped to establish the validity of modern electron band theory. In 1931, he was the first to formulate and label thezeroth law of thermodynamics.[5] In 1932 he was elected to the Chair of Theoretical Physics at theCavendish Laboratory. In 1933 he worked withJohn Bernal to develop a model for the structure of water and ice known as theice rules.[6]
In 1939, whenWorld War II 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 atPrinceton and theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison. For this liaison work he was knighted in 1942 (seeMAUD Committee). He returned to Britain later in the war and worked for the Ordnance Board and the Admiralty up until a few weeks before his death in 1944.
Fifteen Fellows of the Royal Society and three Nobel Laureates (Chandrasekhar, Dirac, and Mott) were supervised by Fowler between 1922 and 1939. In addition to Milne, he worked withSir Arthur Eddington,Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar,Paul Dirac,Homi J. Bhabha, andSir William McCrea. It was Fowler who introduced Dirac to quantum theory in 1923. Fowler also put Dirac andWerner Heisenberg in touch with each other throughNiels Bohr. At Cambridge he supervised the doctoral studies of 64 students, includingJohn Lennard-Jones,Paul Dirac andGarrett Birkhoff.
TheFowler Islands, inCrystal Sound, on the Antarctic Peninsula were named by theUK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in his honour.
Fowler was a keen amateurcricketer who played as awicket-keeper. He played forNorfolk in theMinor Counties Championship in 1908 and 1909.[7]
In 1921 he married Eileen Mary (1901–1930), the only daughter ofErnest Rutherford. They had four children, two daughters and two sons. Eileen died after the birth of their last child,Ruth Fowler Edwards, a geneticist and wife ofRobert G. (Bob) Edwards, the "father" ofin vitro fertilization and 2010Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. One of his grandchildren isMary Fowler, a geophysicist and the sixth Master (2012–2020) ofDarwin College, Cambridge.[8]
