Scientific Discovery
The 1920s and 1930s saw great scientific breakthroughs in the Chemistry and Physics departments. Sir Nevil Mott arrived from The University of Cambridge . His work on ‘solid state physics’ led to the development of the transistor and the growth of industry around solid state electronics. The Physics department became home to the Sutton Group which worked on klystron and magnetron valves (the latter important in the development of radar). A Future Physics professor Peter Fowler used his scientific knowledge to destroy German radar jamming devices during the war.
After the war Tomas Lovejoy succeeded Isambard Owen as Vice-Chancellor after a short period in which Professor Francis held the role in acting capacity. Lovejoy was responsible for the creation of a system whereby the appointment of professors was made by Joint Senate and Council committees after the two organisations disagreed over his replacement as Chair of Physics.
Damage occurred to the Wills Memorial Building during the war caused then Chancellor to give a defiant speech. Loveday remained as Vice-Chancellor despite being past retirement age until the end of the war when he was replaced by Phillip Morris.
Read more about this topic: History Of The University Of Bristol
Famous quotes containing the words scientific discovery, scientific and/or discovery:
“Just as a new scientific discovery manifests something that was already latent in the order of nature, and at the same time is logically related to the total structure of the existing science, so the new poem manifests something that was already latent in the order of words.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)
“I am not afraid of the priests in the long-run. Scientific method is the white ant which will slowly but surely destroy their fortifications. And the importance of scientific method in modern practical life—always growing and increasing—is the guarantee for the gradual emancipation of the ignorant upper and lower classes, the former of whom especially are the strength of the priests.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Next to the striking of fire and the discovery of the wheel, the greatest triumph of what we call civilization was the domestication of the human male.”
—Max Lerner (b. 1902)