The National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists (NCUACS) at the University of Bath is a specialised unit for locating, cataloguing and finding permanent places of deposit for the archives of distinguished contemporary British scientists and engineers. Since 1973 it has worked in collaboration with 46 national and university libraries and archives to preserve and make accessible for research 225 archives of British scientists including 155 Fellows of the Royal Society and 22 Nobel Laureates.
The present RSLP-funded project is founded on the cataloguing of the archives of five British scientists of exceptional distinction and importance including three Nobel Laureates. The five scientists are Professor R.V. Jones for the Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge; Dame Kathleen Lonsdale for the Library, University College London; Sir Nevill Mott (Nobel Prize, Physics, 1977) for Cambridge University Library; Lord Porter (Nobel Prize, Chemistry, 1967) for the Royal Institution, London and Sir Geoffrey Wilkinson (Nobel Prize, Chemistry, 1973) for the Archives of Imperial College London.
R.V. Jones (1911-1997) was scientific adviser to Winston Churchill during the Second World War when he was particularly associated with British scientific intelligence (Assistant Director of Intelligence, 1941-1946). He subsequently published Most Secret War (1978) and Reflections on Intelligence (1989). Jones was Professor of Natural Philosophy, University of Aberdeen, 1946-1981 and was much concerned with science education and the history of science. The Jones papers are of especial interest for the wartime reports and other papers that formed the original source material for Most Secret War, papers reflecting his postwar involvement with defence and intelligence issues, his postwar scientific research especially in the field of instrumentation, his historical writings including drafts sent to colleagues for comment and related correspondence.
Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971) was one of the first two women elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1945. An X-ray crystallographer she was involved in the beginnings of the discipline in the United Kingdom under W.H. Bragg first at University College London and then at the Royal Institution in the 1920s, before returning to UCL where she headed her own laboratory and built up a flourishing research school in the building that now bears her name. She was also a Quaker and pacifist who was imprisoned for her beliefs for a period during the Second World War; peace issues remained a major concern of hers after the dropping of the atomic bombs in 1945. The Lonsdale papers include early research papers from the Royal Institution and comprehensive documentation of the work of her laboratory at UCL and her position in the scientific community in terms of publications, lectures, conferences, professional societies and organisations and scientific correspondence.
Nevill Mott (1905-1996), Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge, 1954-1971, was one of the great theoretical physicists of the twentieth century. His research career, which continued into his ninth decade, ranged widely including work on atomic collisions, metals and alloys, semiconductors and insulators, and wartime work on the propagation of radio waves and the theory of the explosive fragmentation of shells. He was particularly associated with solid state physics which he opened up worldwide in the 1930s, and the work on non-crystalline solids begun in the 1960s (for which he was awarded the 1977 Physics Nobel Prize) is at the heart of the contemporary electronics revolution. The Mott papers include correspondence with scientific colleagues indicative of his involvement in the latest developments in superconductivity right up to his death. Amongst other interests documented is the question of scientists and religious belief (correspondence, writings, sermons and addresses).
George Porter (b.1920) developed the technique of flash photolysis for the direct study of extremely fast reactions for which he was awarded the 1967 Chemistry Nobel Prize. This was an important technique which could be applied to organic chemistry, biochemistry and photobiology and was relevant to medical research and industrial applications such as synthesis hydrocarbons for fuels and chemical feedstuffs. He was Director and Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, 1966-1985 and President of the Royal Society, 1985-1990. Porter has devoted a great deal of his time to the education of young people and non-specialists about the importance and excitement of scientific studies, for example in supporting the great tradition of the Royal Institution in popular science education and in contributing to many television broadcasts especially for the BBC. The Porter papers include comprehensive documentation of his twenty years at the head of the Royal Institution, including records of the role of the RI in furthering the public understanding of science: discourses, Christmas Lectures, film, radio and television. Porter’s scientific career is represented by correspondence with colleagues, research papers including funding, lectures and publications material, records of scientific meetings, UK and international scientific organisations, etc.
Geoffrey Wilkinson (1921-1996) undertook pioneering work on the organometallic compounds of the transition metals for which he was awarded the 1973 Chemistry Nobel Prize. A revolutionary explanation of a previously unknown way in which metals and organic compounds could combine opened up vast areas of research with a wide range of applications. The Imperial College Chemistry Department in Wilkinson’s time was of exceptional distinction including Sir Derek Barton (Nobel Laureate Chemistry 1969) and, as head of department, R.M. Barrer who was nominated for a Nobel Prize, though unsuccessfully. The Wilkinson papers are almost entirely correspondence dealing with the whole range of activity expected from a scientist of Wilkinson’s standing: research including funding, lectures, publications, visits and conferences and the Imperial College Chemistry Department.
The work of the NCUACS is sponsored by the Royal Society which has provided partnership funding in respect of the archives of Lord Porter. Detailed information about the archives is available on the project website. Data about them is being contributed to the HE Archives Hub
Project Manager
Peter HarperE-mail: lispbh@bath.ac.uk
http://www.bath.ac.uk/ncuacs/rslp.htm
Content: Gill Davenport
Last updated 2 July 2002