| Churchill contains: |
|---|
| <-- See earlier |
|---|
| TGNH |
The Papers of Thomas Graeme Nelson Haldane |
| THCR |
The Papers of Baroness Thatcher LG., OM., FRS. |
| THCR AS |
Margaret Thatcher Associated Papers |
| THRP |
The Papers of Richard Thorpe |
| THRS |
The Papers of Archibald Sinclair, 1st Viscount Thurso |
| TMSN |
The Papers of Sir George Paget Thomson |
| TODD |
The Papers of Lord Todd |
| TOMK |
The Papers of Vice-Admiral Wilfred Tomkinson |
| TRAV |
The Killing Ground: The British Army, the Western Front and the Emergence of Modern Warfare, 1900-18. |
| TREN |
Selected correspondence of Marshal of the RAF 1st Lord Trenchard |
| TRNR |
The Papers of Admiral Sir (Arthur) Francis Turner |
| See later --> |
|---|
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The Papers of Sir George Paget Thomson
| Title |
The Papers of Sir George Paget Thomson |
| Reference |
GBR/0014/TMSN |
| Creator |
Thomson, Sir George Paget, 1892-1975, Knight, nuclear physicist |
| Covering Dates |
1939–1942 |
| Extent and Medium |
7 files |
| Repository |
Churchill Archives Centre |
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| Content and context |
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Sir George Thomson was born in Cambridge on 3 May 1892. In 1924 he married Kathleen Buchanan (died 1941) and they had two sons and two daughters. Thomson and Clinton J. Davisson shared the 1937 Nobel prize for physics for showing that electrons behave as waves in spite of being particles. They had arrived at the same conclusions independently of each other. In 1930 he was made professor of physics at Imperial College, London and remained so until 1952. When the fission of uranium by neutron was discovered in 1939 Thomson realised its potential and persuaded the British Air Ministry to procure a ton of uranium oxide for experiments. This led to the formation of the MAUD committee. In 1940 Thomson was made chairman of MAUD - its duties were to supervise the investigation into the possibilities of uranium's contributing to the war effort. Thomson left for America in August 1941 because his wife had become very ill. He became British Scientific Liaison officer in Ottawa until 1942 when he returned to England as Scientific Adviser to the Air Ministry. In 1952 Thomson returned to Cambridge as master of Corpus Christi and died in Cambridge on 10 September 1975.
These files mainly contain routine correspondence and reports regarding the early development of the atomic bomb.
Sir George Thomson deposited these papers at Churchill Archives Centre in April 1966.
The titles given to the files here are those written on the envelopes and folders when the papers were deposited.
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Access and Use
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TMSN 5 is CLOSED until cleared by UKAEA at Harwell.
Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.
Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Sir George Paget Thomson, TMSN
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| Further information |
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Trinity College, Cambridge holds the majority of Sir George Thomson's papers.
A copy of this finding aid is available for consultation at Churchill Archives Centre, at the National Register of Archives in London and on the Janus website http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.
This collection (fonds) description and catalogue were compiled by Louise King of Churchill Archives Centre in April 2005 using information from the Dictionary of National Biography (2005) and from the papers themselves.
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| Index Terms |
| Nuclear Physics |
| Second World War (1939-1945) |
| Thomson, Sir George Paget (1892-1975) Knight, nuclear physicist |
| Cockcroft, Sir John Douglas (1897-1967) Knight, nuclear physicist and 1st Master of Churchill College |
| Churchill/TMSN contains: |
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1
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Early Work on Bomb. This file includes correspondence with Oliphant and Pye but is mostly with Philip Moon and concerns publications, testing and financial support.
1 file. |
May 1939-Jan 1940 |
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2
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Report of Experiments on Uranium Oxide. This is a typed draft of work carried out at Imperial College by G. P. Thomson, Philip Moon, J. L. Michaels, E. Lovell, G. Parry and D. F. Gibbs.
1 file. |
May 1940 |
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3
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Reports to MAUD. Various reports to MAUD including Halban, Kowarski, Fenning and Freundlich's claim to have proved the possibility of a divergent chain with D2O.
1 file. |
27 Jul 1940–23 Sep 1941 |
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4
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Tube Alloys Papers from Ottawa. The contents of this file mostly consist of correspondence between Professor Fowler and Thomson and other scientists such as Dr. Charles Darwin, John Cockcroft, Carroll Wilson, and H. Halban.
1 file. |
12 Jul 1940–9 Aug 1941 |
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5
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Tube Alloys - Peierls Papers. The manuscript papers in this file include "Efficiency of Isotope Separation", "The Effect of Expansion of the Sphere", "Discussion of Specific Design for Diffusion Apparatus", "A Self-Fractioning Diffusion Apparatus" and "Separating Effect of Passage Through Capillary".
1 file. |
20 Mar 1941–5 Nov 1941 |
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6
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Tube Alloys Correspondence. The correspondence (letters, cyphers, telegrams) concerns the purchase of materials, requests for information, and visits. The file includes correspondence with Dr. D. Pye, James Conant, G. Breit, Sir Edward Appleton, Lyman Briggs and Dr. H.Halban.
1 file. |
6 Sep 1941–2 Jun 1942 |
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7
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Tube Alloys Reports. This file contains a report on Thomson's visit to the University of Chicago (June 1942); the minutes of meetings of S1 Group, Washington (January-April 1942); a report of Thomson's interview at Columbia University with Professors Urey, Pegram and Dr. Szilard; notes of a meeting with Dr. Briggs and Dr. Breit; notes of a visit to Dr. Beams (November 1941); notes of a meeting at Columbia University with Drs Dunning, Booth and others (November 1941); notes of meetings with the American MAUD Committees (October 1941).
1 file. |
7 Oct 1941–6 Jun 1942 |
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8
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"Nuclear Energy in Britain During the Last War". This is a copy of the Cherwell-Simon lecture delivered by Sir George Thomson in Oxford.
1 item. |
18 Oct 1960 |
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