Sir James Dewar was a Scottish chemist and physicist. He is best known for his invention of the vacuum flask, which he used in conjunction with research into the liquefaction of gases. He also studied atomic and molecular spectroscopy, working in these fields for more than 25 years.
The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named after the British chemist and physicist Henry Cavendish. The laboratory has had a huge influence on research in the disciplines of physics and biology.
Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE was a Scottish mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook Treatise on Natural Philosophy, which he co-wrote with Lord Kelvin, and his early investigations into knot theory.
Sir John Douglas Cockcroft, was a British physicist who shared with Ernest Walton the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1951 for splitting the atomic nucleus, and was instrumental in the development of nuclear power.
Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton was an Irish physicist and Nobel laureate. He is best known for his work with John Cockcroft to construct one of the earliest types of particle accelerator, the Cockcroft–Walton generator. In experiments performed at Cambridge University in the early 1930s using the generator, Walton and Cockcroft became the first team to use a particle beam to transform one element to another. According to their Nobel Prize citation: "Thus, for the first time, a nuclear transmutation was produced by means entirely under human control."
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, CH, FRS was a Scottish physicist and meteorologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the cloud chamber.
Otto Robert Frisch FRS was an Austrian-born British physicist who worked on nuclear physics. With Lise Meitner he advanced the first theoretical explanation of nuclear fission and first experimentally detected the fission by-products. Later, with his collaborator Rudolf Peierls he designed the first theoretical mechanism for the detonation of an atomic bomb in 1940.
The Knightbridge Professorship of Philosophy is the senior professorship in philosophy at the University of Cambridge. There have been 22 Knightbridge professors, the incumbent being Rae Langton.
The Cavendish Astrophysics Group is based at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. The group operates all of the telescopes at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory except for the 32m MERLIN telescope, which is operated by Jodrell Bank.
Malcolm Sim Longair is a British physicist. From 1991 to 2008 he was the Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Since 2016 he has been editor-in-chief of the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society.
Professor Sir David John Cameron MacKay was a British physicist, mathematician, and academic. He was the Regius Professor of Engineering in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and from 2009 to 2014 was Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). MacKay authored the book Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air.
The Sedleian Professor of Natural Philosophy is the name of a chair at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford.
Isaac Milner was a mathematician, an inventor, the President of Queens' College, Cambridge and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.
Humphrey Owen Jones was a Welsh chemist and mountaineer.
Francis John Hyde Wollaston FRS was an English natural philosopher and Jacksonian Professor at the University of Cambridge.
William Farish (1759–1837) was a British scientist who was a professor of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, known for the development of the method of isometric projection and development of the first written university examination.
George Downing Liveing FRS was an English chemist and spectroscopist.
The Herchel Smith Professorship of Pure Mathematics is a professorship in pure mathematics at the University of Cambridge. It was established in 2004 by a benefaction from Herchel Smith "of £14.315m, to be divided into five equal parts, to support the full endowment of five Professorships in the fields of Pure Mathematics, Physics, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Molecular Genetics." When the position was advertised in 2004, the first holder was expected to focus on mathematical analysis.
Sir Alan Hugh Cook FRS was an English physicist who specialised in geophysics, astrophysics and particularly precision measurement.
Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at Trinity College Dublin is a chair in physics founded in 1724 and funded by the Erasmus Smith Trust, which was established by Erasmus Smith, who lived 1611–1691. Originally, the holder was to be elected from the members of the college by an examination to determine the person best qualified for the professorship. Since 1851, the professorship has been supported by Trinity college.
