Abstract
H.M. THE KING has approved the appointment of Prof. E. V. Appleton tosucceed Sir Frank Smith as secretary to the Committee of the Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Prof. Apple-ton, who will take up his new appointment on February 1, has been Jacksonian professor of natural philosophy in the University of Cambridge since October 1936. He is a fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge; and, after a period of service on the staff of the Cavendish Laboratory, he held the post of Wheatstone professor of physics in the University of London during 1924–36. Prof. Appleton's research work has included a study of the operation of thermionic valves and their associated circuits, the nature and origin of atmospherics and the phenomena associated with thunderstorms; but he is perhaps best known for his investigations on the ionized regions of the upper atmosphere, and their influence on the propagation of radio waves. In this field the results of his work have been of far-reaching importance both in connexion with our knowledge of the physics of the atmosphere and also in assisting the general development of long-distance radio communication. It is well known that by using waves sufficiently short to penetrate the Heaviside layer, Prof. Appleton was able to demonstrate the existence of a second, similar but denser, ionized region at a greater altitude. Most of this research has been conducted on behalf of the Radio Research Board, of which Prof. Appleton has been a member for many years. The work itself has brought him international recognition: he was awarded the Morris-Liebmann prize of the American Institute of Radio Engineers, in 1929 and was elected a vice-president of the Institute in 1932. He has been president of the Union Radio Scientifique Internationale since 1934, and in this capacity he conducted the general assemblyof the Union which took place in Italy last September.
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Prof. E. V. Appleton, F.R.S. Nature 143, 57 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143057a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143057a0