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Revision as of 20:45, 23 March 2007
Kerr Grant | |
|---|---|
| File:Kerr Grant.jpg Kerr Grant | |
| Born | 26 June 1878 |
| Died | 13 October 1967 |
| Nationality |  Australian |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Adelaide |
| Doctoral advisor | Thomas R. Lyle |
Sir Kerr Grant was an Australian physicist and professor who was a significant figure in higher education administration in the first half of the twentieth century.
Kerr Grant was born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria in 1878. He studied mathematics at the University of Melbourne and was awarded a B.Sc in 1901 and M.Sc in 1903, both with first class honours. In 1904 he studied at the University of Gottingen in Germany where he studied with American Nobel Prize winning chemist and physicist Irving Langmuir. In 1911, he was appointed Elder professor of physics at the University of Adelaide. He held this position until 1948 and his students included Hugh Cairns, Mark Oliphant and Howard Florey, (later Baron Florey).[1]
In 1919, he attended the laboratories of the General Electric Co. at Schenectady in the United States. While there he was intrigued by the work performed there on molecular films and on return to Adelaide encouraged study on such films on mercury. During World War II, like many scientists, Kerr Grant was involved in war work. He was appointed chairman of the Scientific (physics) Manpower Advisory Committee, controller of the Adelaide branch of the Army Inventions Directorate, a member and later chairman of the Optical Munitions Panel (of the Ordnance Production Directorate), and a member of the physical and meteorological sub-committee of the Chemical Defence Board.[1]
While he never considered himself an outstanding physicist, Kerr Grant's work during the war and in teaching and administration lead to the award of a knighthood in 1947. He was involved in the popularisation of science through a newspaper article answering reader questions on scientific matters and was seen by some as an archetypal absent minded professor. He died in 1967 from pneumonia after being admitted to hospital with a broken hip.[1]
References
- ^ a b c Tomlin, S.G. (1983). "Grant, Sir Kerr (1878 - 1967)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University. Retrieved 2007-03-23.