Patrick Joseph Nolan
ProfessorPatrick Joseph Nolan(11 August 1894 – 28 December 1984) was an Irish physicist. Like his older brother, physicistJohn James Nolan,he specialised inatmospheric physics.In 1971, he was awarded theBoyle Medalby theRoyal Dublin Society.[1][2]
He was born inOmagh,County Tyrone,and educated atUniversity College Dublin.He earned a BSc in 1914, coming first in his class, and an MSc followed in 1915. ANational University of Irelandtravelling studentship in experimental physics (awarded in 1917) facilitated his spending some time doing research at theCavendish LaboratoryinCambridge–at that time led byErnest Rutherford.[3]In 1922, he married Una Hurley from nearBantry,County Cork,a younger sister of his brother John's wife. The couple had no children. He was an uncle of abstract painterEvin Nolan.
From 1921 to 1928 he held the post of Lecturer on Experimental Physics at St Patrick's College in Maynooth. He spent the rest of his career at UCD, having been awarded his PhD there in 1922. In the 1930s and 1940s, he worked alongside his brother John, and numerous post graduate students, studyingionization,and atmospheric electrical parameters. He was appointed Professor of Geophysics in 1954, and retired in 1964.[4]His publications included papers on the charge equilibrium of nuclei as it relates to theBoltzmann law,the combination of ions and nuclei, and the determination of the recombination coefficient of small ions.[3][5]
Patrick J. Nolan is best remembered for the 1940s development of thePhotoelectricNucleus Counter withL. W. Pollak.[6]This counter was long the standard instrument for the measurement ofcloud condensation nuclei.[7]
Nolan Served on the Governing Board of the School of Cosmic Physics at theDublin Institute for Advanced Studiesfrom 1947-1981.[8][9]
References[edit]
- ^Boyle Medal LaureatesRoyal Dublin Society
- ^National Library Of Australia CatalogueAward of the Boyle medal to Patrick J. Nolan
- ^abThe Royal Dublin Society: Patrick J. Nolan
- ^University ReviewUniversity College Dublin, Vol 1, No 3 (Winter, 1954/1955), pp. 93-96, Published by: Edinburgh University Press
- ^McCartney and Whitaker (2003), p. 182: These investigations set in train a line of research on atmospheric electricity and aerosols that was continued by the Nolan brothers, and had a profound influence on physics research in Ireland in the twentieth century.
- ^O'Connor (2001)
- ^National Library of Australia CatalogueThe photoelectric nucleus counter / Patrick J. Nolan
- ^Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies: Council and Governing Boards as of 31/12/1981
- ^Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies: Council and Governing Boards as of 31/3/1949
Sources[edit]
- O'Connor, Thomas C. (2001).The Evolution of Condensation Nucleus Counters,Department of Physics, National University of Ireland, Galway
- The Royal Dublin Society: Patrick J. Nolan
- McCartney, Mark and Whitaker, Andrew (2003).Physicists of Ireland: Passion and PrecisionBristol and Philadelphia: Institute of Physics,ISBN0750308664
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