John William Nicholson – Wikipedia

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John William Nicholson
Frederick Stratton, John William Nicholson, K. Schwarzschild, Frank Watson Dyson ride in automobile.jpg

Nicholson second from left in the automobile, 1913
Born (1881-11-01)1 November 1881
Died 3 October 1955(1955-10-03) (aged 73)
Nationality Great Britain
Awards
Scientific career
Fields Mathematician

John William Nicholson, FRS[1] (1 November 1881 – 3 October 1955) was an English mathematician and physicist. Nicholson is noted as the first to create an atomic model that quantized angular momentum as h/2π.[2][3] Nicholson was also the first to create a nuclear and quantum theory that explains spectral line radiation as electrons descend toward the nucleus, identifying hitherto unknown solar and nebular spectral lines.[4][5]Niels Bohr quoted him in his 1913 paper of the Bohr model of the atom.[6][7]

Based on the results of astronomical spectroscopy of nebula he proposed in 1911 the existence of several yet undiscovered elements. Coronium with an atomic weight of 0.51282, nebulium with a weight of 1.6281 and protofluorine with a weight of 2.361.[1]Ira Sprague Bowen was able to attribute the spectroscopical lines of nebulium to doubly ionized oxygen making the new elements obsolete for their explanation.[8] Some authors have pointed out the remarkable success that Nicholson’s work initially experienced in spite of being founded on concepts that were eventually shown to be incorrect.[9]

Awards and honours[edit]

Nicholson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1917.[1] In 1919, Nicholson won the Adams Prize.

Papers by John William Nicholson[edit]

  • On electrical vibrations between confocal elliptic cylinders, with special reference to short waves. Phil. Mag. 10, 225-236. (1905)
  • On the diffraction of short waves by a rigid sphere. Phil. Mag. 11, 193-205.
  • A general solution of the electromagnetic relations. Phil. Mag. 13, 259-265.
  • The scattering of sound by spheroids and disks. Phil. Mag. 14, 364-377.
  • On the reflexion of waves from a stratum of gradually varying properties, with application to sound. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 81, 286-299. (1908)
  • Inductance in parallel wires. Nature, Loud. 77, 295.
  • The simple equivalent of an alternating current in parallel wires. Nature, Loud. 80, 247-248.
  • The inductance of two parallel wires. Phil. Mag. 17, 255-275.
  • Inductance and resistance in telephone and other circuits. Phil. Mag. 18, 417-432.
  • The scattering of light by a large conducting sphere. Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 9, 67-80. (1910)
  • The effective resistance and inductance of a helical coil. Phil. Mag. 19, 77-91.
  • On the bending of electric waves round the earth. Phil. Mag. 19, 276-278.
  • On the bending of electric waves round a large sphere. Phil. Mag. 19, 516-537, and 20, 157-172.
  • The accelerated motion of an electrified sphere. Phil. Mag. 20, 610-618. The accelerated motion of a dielectric sphere. Phil. Mag. 20, 828-835.
  • A possible relation between uranium and actinium. Nature, Lond. 87, 515. (1911)
  • On the bending of electric waves round a large sphere. Phil. Mag. 21, 62-68, 281-295. (1912)
  • “The Constitution of the Solar Corona. II,” Month. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc, 72 (1912), 677-692;
  • “The Constitution of the Solar Corona. III,” ibid., 729-739.
  • On the damping of the vibrations of a dielectric sphere, and the radiation from a vibrating electron. Phil. Mag. 21, 438-446.
  • On the number of electrons concerned in metallic conduction. Phil. Mag. 22, 245-266.
  • Note on optical properties of fused metals. Phil. Mag. 22, 266-268.
  • On the bending of electric waves round a large sphere. Phil. Mag. 24, 755-765.
  • The pressure of radiation on a cylindrical obstacle. Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 11, 104-126.
  • The scattering of light by a large conducting sphere (second paper). Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 11, 277-284.
  • Uniform rotation, the principle of relativity, and the Michelson-Morley experiment. Phil. Mag. 24, 820-827.
  • Atomic models and X-ray spectra. Nature, Lond. 92, 583-584. (1914)
  • The constitution of atoms and molecules. Nature, Lond. 93, 268-269. (1914)
  • Sur les poids atomiques des elements des nebuleuses. C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, 158, 1322-1323. (1914)
  • The high frequency spectra of the elements and the structure of the atom. Phil. Mag. 27, 541-564.
  • Atomic structure and the spectrum of helium. Phil. Mag. 28, 90-103. (With T. R. Merton.)
  • On the distribution of intensity in broadened spectral lines Phil. Trans. A, 216, 459-488. (With T. R. Merton.)
  • On intensity relations in the spectrum of helium. Phil. Trans. A, 220, 137-173.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Wilson, W. (1956). “John William Nicholson 1881-1955”. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 2: 209–214. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1956.0014. JSTOR 769485.
  2. ^ J. W. Nicholson, Month. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc. lxxii. pp. 49,130, 677, 693, 729 (1912).
  3. ^ The Atomic Theory of John William Nicholson, Russell McCormmach, Archive for History of Exact Sciences, Vol. 3, No. 2 (25.8.1966), pp. 160-184 (25 pages), Springer.
  4. ^ John Heilbron, The path to the quantum atom, Nature, Vol 498, 6 June 2013, p.27.
  5. ^ J.W. Nicholson, “The Constitution of the Solar Corona. II,” Month. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc, 72 (1912), 677-692; “The Constitution of the Solar Corona. Ill,” ibid., 729-739.
  6. ^ On the Constitution of Atoms and Molecules
    Niels Bohr, Philosophical Magazine, Series 6, Volume 26 July 1913, p. 1-25
  7. ^ Wilson, William, Biography of John William Nicholson, 1956 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbm.1956.0014
  8. ^ Bowen, I. S. (1927). “The Origin of the Nebulium Spectrum”. Nature. 120 (3022): 473. Bibcode:1927Natur.120..473B. doi:10.1038/120473a0.
  9. ^ *Scerri, E.R. (2016). A Tale of Seven Scientists. New York, NY, USA: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-023299-3.