John Nye (scientist)
John Nye | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 26 February 1923 |
| Died | 8 January 2019(aged 95) |
| Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge |
| Spouse |
Georgiana Wiebenson (m.1953) |
| Children | 3 |
| Family |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | University of Bristol |
| Notable students | Heidy Mader |
John Frederick Nye(26 February 1923[1]– 8 January 2019[2]) was a Britishphysicistandglaciologist.He was the first to applyplasticityto understandglacier flow.[3][4]He was a member of theUniversity of Bristol's physics department for 66 years.[5]
Early life
[edit]Nye grew up inHove,Sussex, the second of three children of Haydn Nye and Jessie Hague, daughter ofJoshua Anderson Hague.His father was Catholic and his mother was Anglican, and Nye grew up going to both churches.[6]
Nye attended Hawthornden's School kindergarten opposite his house; Holland House (later Claremont School), also in Hove, for preparatory school; and then boarded atStowe Schoolin Buckinghamshire for his secondary education. He won a Foundation scholarship to study mathematics and physics atKing's College, Cambridge,graduating with aBachelor of Arts(BA), aMaster of Arts(MA), and finally aPhDin 1948.[6]
Career
[edit]After completing his PhD, Nye was employed as a demonstrator in Cambridge's Department of Mineralogy and Petrology for three years and then had a year-long post-doctoral research position at Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey. He subsequently returned to England and, in 1953, joined theUniversity of Bristol.[5][6]
His early work was on thephysicsof plasticity, spanning icerheology,ice flow mechanics, laboratory ice flow measurements,glaciersurges,meltwaterpenetration in ice, and response of glaciers and ice sheets to seasonal and climatic changes. Later in his long career, he worked extensively in optics, publishing his last paper on electromagnetic wave polarization only a few days before his death.[7]
He was elected aFellow of the Royal Societyin 1976.[4][8]He served as president of theInternational Glaciological Society(1966–9),[4]who awarded him theSeligman Crystalin 1969 for outstanding contributions to glaciology.[9]He was also president of the International Commission of Snow and Ice of theInternational Association of Hydrological Sciences(1971–5).[10]TheCryosphereFocus Group of theAmerican Geophysical Unionhosts a Nye Lecture each year at its fall meeting.[11]
Nye worked into his nineties, even after his formal retirement, and "never lost his intellectual curiosity". When he grew too frail to physically go to the university, he would write papers from home. He was known at Bristol for his "his decency and his scientific generosity... His intellectual determination... balanced by his unfailing politeness".[5]
Personal life
[edit]In 1953, Nye married Georgiana Wiebenson, whom he had met during his year at Bell Laboratories, in the chapel of King's College Cambridge. They had three children: Hilary Catherine (b. 1957), Stephen Christopher (b. 1960), and Carolyn Lucy (b. 1963). Nye renovated a rundown house in Bristol into their family home. On the side, he was an avid gardener, and left the garden open as part of the National Open Garden Scheme. He also enjoyed snorkeling, painting, poetry, and the Christian choral tradition.[6]
Nye died on 8 January 2019 at age 95 from heart failure.[2]
Awards and recognition
[edit]Nye won theChree medal and prizein 1989. He wasEmeritus Professorin Physics at theUniversity of Bristol,UK.[12]In addition to glaciology, his research interests includedcausticsandmicrowaveprobes.[12]
Books
[edit]- J.F. Nye, 1957,Physical Properties of Crystals: Their Representation by Tensors and Matrices.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-851165-6
- J.F. Nye, 1999,Natural Focusing and Fine Structure of Light: Caustics and Wave Dislocations.CRC Press.ISBN978-0-7503-0610-2
Scientific publications
[edit]- 1951, The flow of glaciers and ice-sheets as a problem in plasticity.Proceedings of the Royal Society of LondonSeries A-Mathematical And Physical Sciences, 207(1091),554-572.
- 1952, The mechanics of glacier flow. J. Glaciol. 2 (1952), pp. 82–93
- 1953, The flow law of ice from measurements in glacier tunnels, laboratory experiments and the Jungfraufirn Borehole Experiment.Proceedings of the Royal Society of LondonSeries A-Mathematical And Physical Sciences, 219(1139), 477–489.
- 1958, Surges in Glaciers,Nature181, 1450–1451
- 1959. The motion of ice sheets and glaciers. J. Glaciol., 3(26), 493–507.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Merchant, Paul."National Life Stories an Oral History to British Sciences"(PDF).The British Library Board.Retrieved20 January2016.
- ^ab"John F. Nye 1923–2019".International Glaciological Society. 16 January 2019. Archived fromthe originalon 16 January 2019.Retrieved16 January2019.
- ^Lalena, John N.; David A. Cleary (2005).Principles of Inorganic Materials Design.Wiley–IEEE.p.183.ISBN978-0-471-71488-0.
- ^abcCertificates of Election and Candidature, RefNo EC/1976/26: Nye, John Frederick.Royal Society.Accessed 2009-04-26.
- ^abcBerry, Michael (13 March 2019)."Professor John Nye (1923-2019)".University of Bristol.Retrieved22 April2024.
- ^abcdSir Michael Berry FRS (10 June 2020)."John Frederick Nye. 26 February 1923—8 January 2019".The Royal Society of Publishing.Retrieved22 April2024.
- ^Nye, J F (1 January 2019). "Perturbing the polarisation of Riemann–Silberstein electromagnetic vortices".Journal of Optics.21(1): 015002.Bibcode:2019JOpt...21a5002N.doi:10.1088/2040-8986/aaef24.S2CID125406247.
- ^Berry, Sir Michael (2020)."John Frederick Nye. 26 February 1923—8 January 2019".Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society.69:425–441.doi:10.1098/rsbm.2020.0002.S2CID219546989.
- ^The Seligman Crystal.International Glaciological Society. Accessed 2009-04-26.
- ^Radok, Uwe (1997)."The International Commission on Snow and Ice (ICSI) and its precursors, 1894-1994".Hydrological Sciences.42(2): 131–140.doi:10.1080/02626669709492015.
- ^AGU Cryosphere Focus Group Nye Lecture History.American Geophysical Union website. Accessed 2009-04-26.
- ^abJohn Nye: Home page.University of Bristol. Accessed 2009-04-26.
External links
[edit]- Homepage at the University of Bristol
- Listen to an oral history interview with John Nye- a life story interview recorded forAn Oral History of British ScienceArchived6 November 2020 at theWayback Machineat the British Library
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
- 1923 births
- 2019 deaths
- Academics of the University of Bristol
- Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
- British glaciologists
- English physicists
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- Oral History of British Science
- People educated at Stowe School
- People from Hove
- People from Steyning