Sir Frederick Charles Frank, OBE, FRS (6 March 1911 – 5 April 1998) was a British theoretical

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

. He is best known for his work on crystal

dislocation In materials science, a dislocation or Taylor's dislocation is a linear crystallographic defect or irregularity within a crystal structure that contains an abrupt change in the arrangement of atoms. The movement of dislocations allow atoms to sl ...

s, including (with Thornton Read) the idea of the

Frank–Read source In materials science, a Frank–Read source is a mechanism explaining the generation of multiple dislocations in specific well-spaced slip planes in crystals when they are deformed. When a crystal is deformed, in order for slip to occur, disloc ...

of dislocations. He also proposed the

cyclol The cyclol hypothesis is the now discredited first structural model of a folded, globular protein, formulated in the 1930s. It was based on the cyclol reaction of peptide bonds proposed by physicist Frederick Frank in 1936, in which two pe ...

reaction in the mid-1930s, and made many other contributions to

solid-state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the l ...

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...

, and the theory of

liquid crystal Liquid crystal (LC) is a state of matter whose properties are between those of conventional liquids and those of solid crystals. For example, a liquid crystal may flow like a liquid, but its molecules may be oriented in a crystal-like way. T ...

Early life and education

He was born in Durban, South Africa, although his parents returned to England soon afterwards. He was educated at

Thetford Grammar School Thetford Grammar School is an independent co-educational school in Thetford, Norfolk, England. The school might date back to the 7th century, which would make it one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom. History The school website conject ...

and

Ipswich School Ipswich School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 3 to 18 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. North of the town centre, Ipswich School has four parts on three adjacent sites. The Pre-Prep and Nursery ...

and went on to study chemistry at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

, gaining a doctorate at the university's Engineering Laboratory.

Career

Prior to World War II, he worked as a physicist in Berlin and as a colloid chemist in Cambridge. During World War II he joined the Chemical Defence Experimental Station at

Porton Down Porton Down is a science park in Wiltshire, England, just northeast of the village of Porton, near Salisbury. It is home to two British government facilities: a site of the Ministry of Defence's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl ...

, Wiltshire, but in 1940 was transferred to the Air Ministry's Assistant Directorate of Intelligence (Science) and spent the rest of the war with the Air Ministry. Due to his work he was made Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1946. After the war he moved to the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

Physics Department to do research in solid state physics, but switched to research on crystal

. His work with William Keith Burton and

Nicolás Cabrera Nicolás Cabrera (1913–1989), was a Spanish physicist who did important work on the theories of crystal growth (specifically the Burton–Cabrera–Frank theory) and the oxidisation of metals. He was the son of another famous Spanish physic ...

was to demonstrate the role dislocations played in the growth of crystals. Apart from crystal defects, his wide-ranging research interests at Bristol included the mechanical properties of polymers, the theory of liquid crystals, the mechanics of the interior of the Earth, and the origin of biological

homochirality Homochirality is a uniformity of chirality, or handedness. Objects are chiral when they cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, the left and right hands of a human are approximately mirror images of each other but are not their ow ...

. He was appointed Reader in 1951, Melville Wills Professor in 1954 and Henry Overton Wills Professor and Director of the H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory in 1969. He retired in 1976 but remained active in attending conferences, writing papers and corresponding with colleagues well into the 1990s. He edited the Farm Hall Transcripts from

Operation Epsilon Operation Epsilon was the codename of a program in which Allied forces near the end of World War II detained ten German scientists who were thought to have worked on Nazi Germany's nuclear program. The scientists were captured between May 1 and ...

well into his eighties.

Honours and awards

Frank was elected

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1954, delivering the

Bakerian Lecture The Bakerian Medal is one of the premier medals of the Royal Society that recognizes exceptional and outstanding science. It comes with a medal award and a prize lecture. The medalist is required to give a lecture on any topic related to physical ...

in 1973. He was knighted in 1977. He was also awarded honorary degrees by seven universities. In 1963 he won the

Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize The Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize is a major European prize for Physics awarded jointly every year by the British Institute of Physics (IOP) and the Société Française de Physique (SFP). It is one of the four Grand Prix of the SFP and one of ...

. In 1967 he was awarded the

A. A. Griffith Medal and Prize The A. A. Griffith Medal and Prize is awarded annually by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining in commemoration of Alan Arnold Griffith. History The award was established by the Materials Science Club of Great Britain in 1965, two yea ...

.The National Archives
– MATERIALS SCIENCE CLUB NCUACS 15.8.89/F.186, F.187 ''1967, 1971–73'' (Section F Societies and Organisations NCUACS 15.8.89/F.186 ''1967–1971'') – Contents: Brief correspondence, programme of 1967 AGM and Conference on Materials in Archaeology, Banbury, 22–23 September. Frank was awarded the Club's A. A. Griffith Medal. With a copy of Frank's speech. Brief correspondence and papers, March 1972. Frank was a member of the Awards Sub-Committee which selected the Griffith medallist for 1972. Correspondence, programme of 10th Anniversary meeting, Great Malvern, 24–26 October 1973. He was also a member of the Materials Science Club Awards Sub-Committee which selected the Griffith medallist for 1972 ( L. R. G. Treloar). In 1994 he was awarded the Royal Society's

Copley Medal The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is t ...

, its highest honour, ''"in recognition of his fundamental contribution to the theory of crystal morphology, in particular to the source of dislocations and their consequences in interfaces and crystal growth; to fundamental understanding of liquid crystals and the concept of disclination; and to the extension of crystallinity concepts to aperiodic crystals."''

Personal life

He married Maita Asche in 1940.

References

External links

Oral history interview transcript with Charles Frank on 12 April 1985, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Frederick Charles 1911 births 1998 deaths People educated at Ipswich School People from Durban Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Academics of the University of Bristol English physicists Engineering academics Royal Medal winners Recipients of the Copley Medal Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences People educated at Thetford Grammar School Officers of the Order of the British Empire Colloid chemists