Alexander Wood (physicist)

For other people of the same name, see Alexander Wood (disambiguation).

Alexander Wood (May 3, 1879[1]–1950) was a Scottish physicist who worked as researcher and university lecturer in the field of acoustics and experimental physics.[2]

Biography

Son of Sir Alexander Wood of Partick, he was born in Scotland and educated at Glasgow University and obtained a doctorate in 1907. That very year he went to the Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow and tutor.

At the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the electron, Wood lectured on the work and history of the Cavendish Laboratory[3] of which he was a notorious and active member.[4] Future Nobelist George Paget Thomson, who attended Wood's lectures of physics, would comment later: "these were outstanding both in material and exposition, and impressed me greatly."[5] Similarly, Alan Lindsay Mackay, who was Wood student, mentioned him as one of his great professors and someone whose lectures were full of demonstrations.[6] In addition, scientist Charles Alfred Coulson spoke of Alex as one of his three major influences,[7] and William Lawrence Bragg corresponded with him asking for help in his research.[8][9]

As a pupil of Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) at the University of Glasgow, Wood acqurired some of his religious practices as the habit of praying before lecturing.[10] He was a member of the Church of Scotland and a devout Christian who held Bible lessons and spoke about the relation between science and religion.[11]

In addition, along with Kees Boeke and Herbert Gray, during the World War I he was a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a group of religious pacifists.;[12] at the time of conscription he was a conscientious objector. He was a leading member of the Peace Pledge Union, serving as Chair, 1940–46, and was also active in the National Peace Council. After his death, theologian Charles E. Raven wrote a biography of the physicist entitled Alex Wood: the man and his message (1952).

Works

Posthumous

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ The University of Glasgow Story. Alexander Wood
  2. ↑ Navarro, 2012. p. 143
  3. ↑ University Press, 1948. Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society: Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Volume 44. p. 602
  4. ↑ Brooke, Christopher. 1992. A History of the University of Cambridge:, Volume 4; Volumes 1870-1990. Cambridge University Press. p. 393
  5. ↑ Navarro, 2012. p. 111
  6. ↑ Hargittai, Balazsc & István. 2005. Candid Science V: Conversations with Famous Scientists. Imperial College Press,. p. 62
  7. ↑ Rupke, 2009:79
  8. ↑ National Archives. Lawrence Bragg to Alex Wood (A record is held by Royal Institution of Great Britain, where Bragg "would welcome Wood's help, particularly in looking out the old papers and in making suggestions about the original experimental layout."
  9. ↑ National Archives. Letters from Alex Wood (to Bragg), Cambridge, 2 March
  10. ↑ Wood, 2001, p. IX.
  11. ↑ Wood, 2001, p. XII; XV
  12. ↑ Barrett, Clive. 2014. Subversive Peacemakers: War-Resistance 1914-1918: An Anglican Perspective. The Lutterworth Press. p. 237
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