WILSON, Professor William (1875-1965)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0505 PP36
Held at	: Royal Holloway, University of London   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/archives ›
Full title	: WILSON, Professor William (1875-1965)
Date(s)	: 1910-1985
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 1 box or 0.01m3
Name of creator(s)	: Wilson | William | 1875-1965 | Professor of Physics
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1875; educated village school at Holme St Cuthbert, Cumberland, Agricultural College, Aspatria, West Cumberland, and Royal College of Science and King's College, University of London; Teacher at a school in Towcester, Northamptonshire, 1896-1898; Mathematics Master, Beccles College, Suffolk, and Craven College, Highgate, 1898-[1901]; taught in Berlitz School of Languages, Elberfeld, Germany, and at branches of the school in Dortmund, Münster, Barmen and Cologne, [1901-1902]; Student of Mathematics, University of Leipzig, Germany, 1902-1906; Assistant Lecturer, Wheatstone Laboratory, King's College, University of London, 1906-1920; Reader in Physics, King's College London, 1920-1921; Hildred Carlile Professor of Physics, Bedford College, University of London, 1921-1944; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1923; Fellow of King's College London; Professor Emeritus, [1944]; retired 1944; died 1965.

Publications: translated Nuclear Physics (Methuen and Co, London, 1953); A hundred years of physics (Gerald Duckworth and co, London, 1950); Theoretical Physics (Methuen and Co, London, 1931-1940); The microphysical world (Methuen and Co, London, 1951).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of and relating to Professor William Wilson, 1910-1985, comprising personal correspondence with scientists, 1921-1957, mainly relating to Wilson's work on quantum theory and on the theory of general relativity and gravitation, notably Sir John Anderson; Professor Edward Neville da Costa Andrade, Quain Professor of Physics, University of London; Sir Edward (Victor) Appleton, Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research; Professor Henry Edward Armstrong, Professor of Chemistry, City and Guilds College, London; Sir Ernest Govka Barker; Professor Charles Glover Barkla, Professor of Natural Philosophy, University of Edinburgh; Professor Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Langworth Professor of Physics, University of Manchester; Professor Max Born, Tait Professor of Natural Philosophy; Professor Sir William (Henry) Bragg, Fullerian Professor of Chemistry, Royal Institution, London; Maurice, Duc de Broglié; Prince Louis Victor de Broglié, Permanent Secretary of the Academie des Sciences, France; Sir Edwin Deller, Principal of the University of London; Professor Frederick George Donnan; Professor Albert Einstein, Professor of Theoretical Physics, Princeton, New Jersey, USA; Sir Alexander Gray; Professor Godfrey Harold Hardy, former President of the London Mathematical Society; Dr Arthur Headlam; Professor Egil A Hylleraas; Professor Sir John Ledingham, Professor of Bacteriology, University of London; Professor (Edward) Arthur Milne, Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics, Oxford University; Professor John William Nicholson, Professor of Mathematics, University of London; Professor Dr Max Planck, President of the Kaiser Willhelm-Gesellschaft; Sir (Chandrasekhara) Venkata Raman, Director of the Raman Research Institute, Banglore, India; Professor Robert John Strutt Rayleigh, 4^th Baron Rayleigh, President of the Royal Institution; Professor Harold Roper Robinson, Professor of Physics and Vice Principal of Queen Mary College, University of London; Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3^rd Earl Russell; Sir Ernest Rutherford, President of the Royal Society; Herbert Louis Samuel, 1^st Viscount Samuel of Mount Carmel and Toxteth, former Liberal Leader of the House of Lords; Professor Erwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger, University of Vienna; Dr Arnold Sommerfeld; Professor Dr Wilhelm Westphal; Sir Edmund Whittaker, President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; and Professor Charles Thomson Rees Wilson.

Correspondence relating to research requests for the William Wilson papers, 1960-1985.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Arranged according to correspondent in alphabetical order.

Conditions governing access:

Open to all registered users of the Royal Holloway, University of London Archives.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies may be supplied, subject to the condition of the original. Requests to publish original material should be directed to the College Archivist.

Finding aids:

Handlist available in the Royal Holloway, University of London Archives reading room.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Presented to the Bedford College Library by Wilson in Jul 1960. The papers were transferred from the Bedford College Archives when the College merged with Royal Holloway in 1985.

Immediate source of acquisition:

Allied Materials

Related material:

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the AIM25 project.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in accordance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Feb 2000