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Denys Wilkinson

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Denys Wilkinson
Born
Denys Haigh Wilkinson

(1922-09-05)September 5, 1922
Leeds, England
DiedApril 22, 2016(2016-04-22)(aged 93)
Alma materJesus College, Cambridge
Scientific career
FieldsNuclear physics
Doctoral studentsSamar Mubarakmand
TheDenys Wilkinson Building,part of theDepartment of PhysicsatOxford University.

Sir Denys Haigh WilkinsonFRS(5 September 1922 – 22 April 2016) was aBritishnuclear physicist.

Life

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He was born on 5 September 1922 inLeeds,Yorkshireand educated atLoughborough Grammar SchoolandJesus College,Cambridge,graduating in 1943.[1]

After wartime work on the British and Canadian Atomic Energy projects, he returned to Cambridge in 1946, where he was awarded a PhD in 1947 and held posts culminating as Reader in Nuclear Physics from 1956–1957.[1]From 1944 to 1959, he was a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge.[1]

He was made aFellow of the Royal Societyin 1956.[2]

In 1957 he went to theUniversity of Oxfordas Professor of Nuclear Physics, and won theFernand Holweck Medal and Prizethe same year.[1]In 1959 he became Professor of Experimental Physics at Oxford, and from 1962 to 1976 was head of the Department of Nuclear Physics.[1]While he held his professorship at Oxford, he was a Fellow (there called a Student) ofChrist Church, Oxford.[1]He wasknightedin 1974.[3]In 2001 the Nuclear Physics Laboratory at the University of Oxford, which he had helped to create, was renamed theDenys Wilkinson Buildingin his honour.[4]

Denys Wilkinson served as chairman for both the Physics III Committee[5]and the Electronic Experiments Committee atCERN.[6]

On leaving Oxford, he served as Vice-Chancellor of theUniversity of Sussexfrom 1976 to 1987.[1][7]After his retirement, he was appointed Emeritus Professor of Physics at Sussex in 1987.[1]

Denys Wilkinson's work in nuclear physics included investigation of the properties of nuclei with low numbers of nucleons.[2]He was amongst the first to experimentally test rules relating toisospin.[2]He also applied concepts from physics to the study of bird navigation.[2]

He is also notable for the invention of theWilkinsonanalog-to-digital converter,to support his experimental work.[2]

He died on 22 April 2016 at the age of 93.[7]

His papers are held at theChurchill Archives Centrein Cambridge.[1]He was an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge from 1961, and an Honorary Student of Christ Church, Oxford from 1979.[1]He won theHughes Medalof the Royal Society in 1965 and theRoyal Medalin 1980.[2][8][9]In 1980 he received anhonorary doctoratefrom the Faculty of Mathematics and Science atUppsala University,Sweden.[10]

References

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  1. ^abcdefghij"The Papers of Sir Denys Wilkinson".Archivesearch.Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge University.Archivedfrom the original on 4 October 2021.Retrieved30 April2016.
  2. ^abcdef"Denys Wilkinson".The Royal Society.The Royal Society.Retrieved30 April2016.
  3. ^"No. 46430".The London Gazette.13 December 1974. p. 12745.
  4. ^Oxford Physics – Denys Wilkinson BuildingArchived27 September 2011 at theWayback Machine
  5. ^80th Meeting of Scientific Policy Committee: Minutes(Report). CERN. CERN/SPC/0361.Retrieved29 September2017.
  6. ^82nd Meeting of Scientific Policy Committee: Draft minutes(Report). CERN. CERN/SPC/0366/Draft.Retrieved29 September2017.
  7. ^ab"University of Sussex's third Vice-Chancellor Sir Denys Wilkinson passes away on 22 April 2016".University of Sussex.University of Sussex.Retrieved30 April2016.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^"Award Winners [of Hughes Medal]".Royal Society.Retrieved30 April2016.
  9. ^"Award Winners [of Royal Medal]".Royal Society.Retrieved30 April2016.
  10. ^"Honorary doctorates - Uppsala University, Sweden".
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  • Portrait(1990), by Keith Clements, held at the University of Sussex
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