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{{Short description|British physicist (1879 – 1959)}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2017}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox scientist
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name = Sir Owen Richardson
| name = Owen Richardson
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS }}
| birth_name = Owen Willans Richardson
| birth_name = Owen Willans Richardson
| image = Niels BohrUpOwenWillansRichardsonDownSolvay1927.JPG
| image = Owen Richardson.jpg
| caption = [[Niels Bohr]] and Richardson (right) at the 1927 Solvay conference
| caption = Richardson in 1928
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1879|04|26}}
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1879|04|26}}
| birth_place = [[Dewsbury]], Yorkshire, England
| birth_place = [[Dewsbury]], Yorkshire, UK
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1959|02|15|1879|04|26}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1959|02|15|1879|04|26}}
| death_place = [[Alton, Hampshire]], England
| death_place = [[Alton, Hampshire]], England
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* [[Clinton Davisson]]
* [[Clinton Davisson]]
* [[Alan Tower Waterman]]}}
* [[Alan Tower Waterman]]}}
| known_for = [[Richardson's law]]
| known_for = [[Richardson's law]]<br>[[Einstein–de Haas effect]]
| prizes = {{Plainlist|
| prizes = {{Plainlist|
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1913)<ref name=frs>{{Cite journal | last1 = Wilson | first1 = Wm | year = 1960 | title = Owen Willans Richardson 1879–1959 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 5 | pages = 206–215 | publisher = Royal Society | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1960.0016 | s2cid = 71230816 }}</ref>
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1913)<ref name=frs>{{Cite journal | last1 = Wilson | first1 = Wm | year = 1960 | title = Owen Willans Richardson 1879–1959 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 5 | pages = 206–215 | publisher = Royal Society | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1960.0016 | s2cid = 71230816 | doi-access = free }}</ref>
* [[Royal Medal]] (1930)
* [[Royal Medal]] (1930)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1928)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1928)
* [[Hughes Medal]] (1920)}}
* [[Hughes Medal]] (1920)}}
| signature = Solvay1933Signature Richardson.jpg
}}
}}


'''Sir Owen Willans Richardson''', [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]<ref name=frs/> (26 April 1879 – 15 February 1959) was a British [[physicist]] who won the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1928 for his work on [[thermionic emission]], which led to [[Richardson's law]].<ref name="nobelbio">{{cite web | work=Les Prix Nobel | publisher=Nobel Foundation | title=Owen Willans Richardson: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1928 | url=http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1928/richardson-bio.html | year=1928 | accessdate=17 September 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | pmid=17818864 | last1=Richardson | publication-date=30 September 1921 | year=1921 | title=Problems of Physics | volume=54 | issue=1396 | pages=283–91 | doi=10.1126/science.54.1396.283 | journal=Science | first1=OW|bibcode = 1921Sci....54..283R }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | pmid=17830216 | last1=Richardson | publication-date=11 July 1913 | year=1913 | title=The Emission of Electrons From Tungsten at High Temperatures: An Experimental Proof That The Electric Current In Metals Is Carried By Electrons | volume=38 | issue=967 | pages=57–61 | doi=10.1126/science.38.967.57 | journal=Science | first1=OW|bibcode = 1913Sci....38...57R | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448117 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | pmid=17800821 | last1=Richardson | publication-date=12 July 1912 | year=1912 | title=The Laws of Photoelectric Action and the Unitary Theory of Light (Lichtquanten Theorie) | volume=36 | issue=915 | pages=57–8 | doi=10.1126/science.36.915.57-a | journal=Science | first1=OW|bibcode = 1912Sci....36...57R | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448088 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | pmid=17792421 | last1=Richardson | last2=Compton | first2= KT| publication-date=17 May 1912 | year=1912 | title=The Photoelectric Effect | volume=35 | issue=907 | pages=783–4 | doi=10.1126/science.35.907.783 | journal=Science | first1=OW|bibcode = 1912Sci....35..783R | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448080 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1928/richardson-lecture.pdf Owen Richardson's Nobel lecture on thermionics, December 12, 1929]</ref>
'''Sir Owen Willans Richardson''' (26 April 1879 – 15 February 1959) was a British [[physicist]] who won the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1928 for his work on [[thermionic emission]], which led to [[Richardson's law]].<ref name="nobelbio">{{cite web | work=Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922-1941, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam | publisher=Nobel Foundation | title=Owen Willans Richardson: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1928 | url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1928/richardson/biographical/ | year=1965 | access-date=18 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | pmid=17818864 | last1=Richardson | publication-date=30 September 1921 | year=1921 | title=Problems of Physics | volume=54 | issue=1396 | pages=283–91 | doi=10.1126/science.54.1396.283 | journal=Science | first1=OW|bibcode = 1921Sci....54..283R | s2cid=4073897 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | pmid=17830216 | last1=Richardson | publication-date=11 July 1913 | year=1913 | title=The Emission of Electrons From Tungsten at High Temperatures: An Experimental Proof That The Electric Current In Metals Is Carried By Electrons | volume=38 | issue=967 | pages=57–61 | doi=10.1126/science.38.967.57 | journal=Science | first1=OW|bibcode = 1913Sci....38...57R | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448117 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | pmid=17800821 | last1=Richardson | publication-date=12 July 1912 | year=1912 | title=The Laws of Photoelectric Action and the Unitary Theory of Light (Lichtquanten Theorie) | volume=36 | issue=915 | pages=57–8 | doi=10.1126/science.36.915.57-a | journal=Science | first1=OW|bibcode = 1912Sci....36...57R | s2cid=39108526 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448088 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | pmid=17792421 | last1=Richardson | last2=Compton | first2= KT| publication-date=17 May 1912 | year=1912 | title=The Photoelectric Effect | volume=35 | issue=907 | pages=783–4 | doi=10.1126/science.35.907.783 | journal=Science | first1=OW|bibcode = 1912Sci....35..783R | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1448080 }}</ref><ref>[https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2018/06/richardson-lecture.pdf Owen Richardson's Nobel lecture on thermionics, 12 December 1929]</ref>


==Biography==
==Biography==
Richardson was born in [[Dewsbury]], Yorkshire, England, the only son of Joshua Henry and Charlotte Maria Richardson. He was educated at [[Batley Grammar School]] and [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where he gained First Class Honours in Natural Sciences.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{acad|id=RCRT897OW|name=Richardson, Owen Willans}}</ref> He then got a DSc from [[University of London]] in 1904.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
Richardson was born in [[Dewsbury]], Yorkshire, England, the son of Joshua Henry and Charlotte Maria Richardson. He was educated at [[Batley Grammar School]] and [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where he gained First Class Honours in Natural Sciences.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{acad|id=RCRT897OW|name=Richardson, Owen Willans}}</ref> He then got a DSc from [[University College London]] in 1904.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>


⚫
After graduating in 1900, he began researching the emission of electricity from hot bodies at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]] in Cambridge, and in October 1902 he was made a fellow at Trinity.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=University intelligence |date=8 October 1902 |page=4 |issue=36893}}</ref> In 1901, he demonstrated that the current from a heated wire seemed to depend exponentially on the temperature of the wire with a mathematical form similar to the [[Arrhenius equation]]. This became known as Richardson's law: "If then the negative radiation is due to the corpuscles coming out of the metal, the saturation current ''s'' should obey the law <math>s = A\,T^{1/2}\,e^{-b/T}</math>."<ref>O. W. Richardson (1901) [https://books.google.com/books?id=QAUPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA286 "On the negative radiation from hot platinum,"] ''Philosophical of the Cambridge Philosophical Society'', '''11''' : 286–295; see especially p. 287.</ref>
[[File:Owen Richardson.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Owen Willans Richardson (1928)]]
⚫
After graduating in 1900, he began researching the emission of electricity from hot bodies at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]] in Cambridge, and in October 1902 he was made a fellow at Trinity.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |articlename=University intelligence |day_of_week=Wednesday |date=8 October 1902 |page_number=4 |issue=36893| }}</ref> In 1901, he demonstrated that the current from a heated wire seemed to depend exponentially on the temperature of the wire with a mathematical form similar to the [[Arrhenius equation]]. This became known as Richardson's law: "If then the negative radiation is due to the corpuscles coming out of the metal, the saturation current ''s'' should obey the law <math>s = A\,T^{1/2}\,e^{-b/T}</math>."<ref>O. W. Richardson (1901) [https://books.google.com/books?id=QAUPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA286#v=onepage&q&f=false "On the negative radiation from hot platinum,"] ''Philosophical of the Cambridge Philosophical Society'', '''11''' : 286–295; see especially p. 287.</ref>


Richardson was professor at [[Princeton University]] from 1906 to 1913, and returned to the UK in 1914 to become Wheatstone Professor of Physics at [[King's College London]], where he was later made director of research. In 1927, he was one of the participants of the fifth [[Solvay Conference]] on Physics that took place at the International Solvay Institute for Physics in Belgium. He retired in 1944, and died in 1959. He is buried in [[Brookwood Cemetery]].
Richardson was professor at [[Princeton University]] from 1906 to 1913, and returned to the UK in 1914 to become Wheatstone Professor of Physics at [[King's College London]], where he was later made director of research in 1924.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sir Owen Willans Richardson {{!}} Nobel Prize, Thermionic Emission, Heat Transfer {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Owen-Willans-Richardson |access-date=2023-10-20 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> In 1927, he was one of the participants of the fifth [[Solvay Conference]] on Physics that took place at the International Solvay Institute for Physics in Belgium. He retired from King’s College London in 1944, and died in 1959. He is buried in [[Brookwood Cemetery]] in Surrey.


He also researched the [[photoelectric effect]], the [[Gyromagnetic ratio|gyromagnetic effect]], the emission of electrons by chemical reactions, soft [[X-rays]], and the spectrum of hydrogen.
He also researched the [[photoelectric effect]], the [[Gyromagnetic ratio|gyromagnetic effect]], the emission of electrons by chemical reactions, soft [[X-rays]], and the spectrum of hydrogen.


Richardson married Lilian Wilson, sister of his Cavendish colleague [[Harold A. Wilson (physicist)|Harold Wilson]], in 1906, and had two sons and a daughter. Richardson's own sister married the American physicist (and 1937 Nobel laureate) [[Clinton Davisson]], who was Richardson's PhD student at Princeton. After Lilian's death in 1945, he was remarried in 1948 to Henriette Rupp, a physicist.
Richardson married Lilian Wilson, sister of his Cavendish colleague [[Harold A. Wilson (physicist)|Harold Wilson]], in 1906, and had two sons and a daughter. Richardson had two sisters. Elizabeth Mary Dixon Richardson married the prominent mathematician [[Oswald Veblen]]. Charlotte Sara Richardson married the American physicist (and 1937 Nobel laureate) [[Clinton Davisson]], who was Richardson's PhD student at Princeton. After Lilian's death in 1945, he was remarried in 1948 to Henriette Rupp, a physicist.


Owen Willans Richardson had a son, Harold Owen Richardson, who specialised in Nuclear Physics and was also the chairman of the Physics Department at Bedford College, London University and later on became emeritus professor at London University.{{cite needed|date=November 2020}}
Owen Willans Richardson had a son, Harold Owen Richardson, who specialised in Nuclear Physics and was also the chairman of the Physics Department at Bedford College, London University and later on became emeritus professor at London University.{{cite needed|date=November 2020}}


==Honours==
==Honours==
[[File:Owen Willans Richardson Grave.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Richardson's grave in [[Brookwood Cemetery]]]]
[[File:Owen Willans Richardson Grave.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Richardson's grave in [[Brookwood Cemetery]]]]
Richardson was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1913|Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1913]],<ref name=frs/> and was awarded its [[Hughes Medal]] in 1920. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1928, "for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him".<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1928/ Nobel prize citation, Nobel foundation website]</ref> He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1939.
Richardson was elected an International Member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1910.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Owen+W.+Richardson&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1913|Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1913]],<ref name=frs/> and was awarded its [[Hughes Medal]] in 1920. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1928, "for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him".<ref>[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1928/ Nobel prize citation, Nobel foundation website]</ref> He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1939.{{fact|date=December 2023}}

== Works ==

* ''[https://archive.org/details/emissionofelectr00richrich/ The emission of electricity from hot bodies]'' (1st edition, 1916)
* ''[https://archive.org/details/emissionelectricity00richrich/ The emission of electricity from hot bodies]'' (2nd edition, 1921)

<gallery>
File:Richardson-2.jpg|Title page to ''The emission of electricity from hot bodies'' (1916)
File:Richardson-3.jpg|Preface to ''The emission of electricity from hot bodies'' (1916)
File:Richardson-5.jpg|Table of contents to ''The emission of electricity from hot bodies'' (1916)
File:Richardson-6.jpg|First page to ''The emission of electricity from hot bodies'' (1916)
</gallery>


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|35em}}
{{reflist|35em}}
==External links==
==External links==
*{{Commons category inline}}
* {{Nobelprize}}
* {{Nobelprize}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1926-1950}}
{{Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1926-1950}}
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[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century physicists]]
[[Category:20th-century British physicists]]
[[Category:Academics of King's College London]]
[[Category:Academics of King's College London]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:British Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Burials at Brookwood Cemetery]]
[[Category:Burials at Brookwood Cemetery]]
[[Category:English Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:English physicists]]
[[Category:Fellows of King's College London]]
[[Category:Fellows of King's College London]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
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[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Physical Society]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Physical Society]]
[[Category:Theoretical physicists]]
[[Category:British theoretical physicists]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]

Latest revision as of 13:17, 27 November 2024

Sir
Owen Richardson
FRS
Richardson in 1928
Born
Owen Willans Richardson

(1879-04-26)26 April 1879
Dewsbury, Yorkshire, UK
Died15 February 1959(1959-02-15) (aged 79)
Alton, Hampshire, England
NationalityBritish
EducationBatley Grammar School
Alma mater
Known forRichardson's law
Einstein–de Haas effect
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
Institutions
Doctoral advisorJ. J. Thomson[2]
Doctoral students
Signature

Sir Owen Willans Richardson (26 April 1879 – 15 February 1959) was a British physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1928 for his work on thermionic emission, which led to Richardson's law.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

Biography

[edit]

Richardson was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England, the son of Joshua Henry and Charlotte Maria Richardson. He was educated at Batley Grammar School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained First Class Honours in Natural Sciences.[9] He then got a DSc from University College London in 1904.[9]

After graduating in 1900, he began researching the emission of electricity from hot bodies at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, and in October 1902 he was made a fellow at Trinity.[10] In 1901, he demonstrated that the current from a heated wire seemed to depend exponentially on the temperature of the wire with a mathematical form similar to the Arrhenius equation. This became known as Richardson's law: "If then the negative radiation is due to the corpuscles coming out of the metal, the saturation current s should obey the law ."[11]

Richardson was professor at Princeton University from 1906 to 1913, and returned to the UK in 1914 to become Wheatstone Professor of Physics at King's College London, where he was later made director of research in 1924.[12] In 1927, he was one of the participants of the fifth Solvay Conference on Physics that took place at the International Solvay Institute for Physics in Belgium. He retired from King’s College London in 1944, and died in 1959. He is buried in Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.

He also researched the photoelectric effect, the gyromagnetic effect, the emission of electrons by chemical reactions, soft X-rays, and the spectrum of hydrogen.

Richardson married Lilian Wilson, sister of his Cavendish colleague Harold Wilson, in 1906, and had two sons and a daughter. Richardson had two sisters. Elizabeth Mary Dixon Richardson married the prominent mathematician Oswald Veblen. Charlotte Sara Richardson married the American physicist (and 1937 Nobel laureate) Clinton Davisson, who was Richardson's PhD student at Princeton. After Lilian's death in 1945, he was remarried in 1948 to Henriette Rupp, a physicist.

Owen Willans Richardson had a son, Harold Owen Richardson, who specialised in Nuclear Physics and was also the chairman of the Physics Department at Bedford College, London University and later on became emeritus professor at London University.[citation needed]

Honours

[edit]
Richardson's grave in Brookwood Cemetery

Richardson was elected an International Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1910.[13] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1913,[1] and was awarded its Hughes Medal in 1920. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1928, "for his work on the thermionic phenomenon and especially for the discovery of the law named after him".[14] He was knighted in 1939.[citation needed]

Works

[edit]
  • Title page to The emission of electricity from hot bodies (1916)
    Title page to The emission of electricity from hot bodies (1916)
  • Preface to The emission of electricity from hot bodies (1916)
    Preface to The emission of electricity from hot bodies (1916)
  • Table of contents to The emission of electricity from hot bodies (1916)
    Table of contents to The emission of electricity from hot bodies (1916)
  • First page to The emission of electricity from hot bodies (1916)
    First page to The emission of electricity from hot bodies (1916)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Wilson, Wm (1960). "Owen Willans Richardson 1879–1959". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 5. Royal Society: 206–215. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1960.0016. S2CID 71230816.
  2. ^ Rayleigh (1941). "Joseph John Thomson. 1856-1940". Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 3 (10): 586–609. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1941.0024.
  3. ^ "Owen Willans Richardson: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1928". Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922-1941, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam. Nobel Foundation. 1965. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  4. ^ Richardson, OW (1921), "Problems of Physics", Science, 54 (1396) (published 30 September 1921): 283–91, Bibcode:1921Sci....54..283R, doi:10.1126/science.54.1396.283, PMID 17818864, S2CID 4073897
  5. ^ Richardson, OW (1913), "The Emission of Electrons From Tungsten at High Temperatures: An Experimental Proof That The Electric Current In Metals Is Carried By Electrons", Science, 38 (967) (published 11 July 1913): 57–61, Bibcode:1913Sci....38...57R, doi:10.1126/science.38.967.57, PMID 17830216
  6. ^ Richardson, OW (1912), "The Laws of Photoelectric Action and the Unitary Theory of Light (Lichtquanten Theorie)", Science, 36 (915) (published 12 July 1912): 57–8, Bibcode:1912Sci....36...57R, doi:10.1126/science.36.915.57-a, PMID 17800821, S2CID 39108526
  7. ^ Richardson, OW; Compton, KT (1912), "The Photoelectric Effect", Science, 35 (907) (published 17 May 1912): 783–4, Bibcode:1912Sci....35..783R, doi:10.1126/science.35.907.783, PMID 17792421
  8. ^ Owen Richardson's Nobel lecture on thermionics, 12 December 1929
  9. ^ a b "Richardson, Owen Willans (RCRT897OW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  10. ^ "University intelligence". The Times. No. 36893. London. 8 October 1902. p. 4.
  11. ^ O. W. Richardson (1901) "On the negative radiation from hot platinum," Philosophical of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 11 : 286–295; see especially p. 287.
  12. ^ "Sir Owen Willans Richardson | Nobel Prize, Thermionic Emission, Heat Transfer | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  13. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  14. ^ Nobel prize citation, Nobel foundation website
[edit]
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