Sir William John Granville Beynon,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, FRS (24 May 1914 in

Dunvant Dunvant ( cy, Dyfnant) (Dyfn - deep; nant - stream or brook) is a suburban district and community (parish) in the City and County of Swansea, Wales, and falls within the Dunvant ward. It is situated in a valley some 4.5 miles west of Swansea cit ...

– 11 March 1996 in Aberystwyth) was a Welsh

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 cau ...

. He co-operated with Sir Edward Victor Appleton, who had detected the terrestrial Ionosphere.

Life history

William John Granville Beynon was born in

, near Swansea,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

on 24 May 1914, the youngest of four children. His father, a miner, held the responsible jobs of checkweightman and chief of the local mines rescue service. Beynon was educated at

Gowerton Grammar School Gowerton ( cy, Tregŵyr) is a large village and community, about 4 miles north west of Swansea city centre, Wales. Gowerton is often known as the gateway to the Gower Peninsula. Gowerton's original name was Ffosfelin. The village falls within the ...

, before matriculating to the

University of Swansea Swansea University ( cy, Prifysgol Abertawe) is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. ...

, where he studied physics. In 1938 he gained a position at National Physical Laboratory at Slough, near London, working closely with Sir Edward Appleton. Together they performed basic studies of radio wave propagation by reflection from these layers. This cooperation persisted over a few decades, during which Beynon as representative of Sir Edward held senior offices in national and international committees, and took active part in the preparation and conduct of the International Geophysical Year 1957/8, which was a break-through in international cooperation in geophysics. He became thereafter one of the leading personalities in international scientific cooperation, in particular in the International Union of Radio Science (URSI). His perseverance saved the European

Radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

project EISCAT, by which progress was reached in understanding particular atmospheric phenomena at high latitudes. In 1942 Beynon married Megan James. The couple had two sons and one daughter. From 1946 Beynon carried out studies in physics at the

. In 1958 Beynon started teaching at the University of Aberystwyth, where he later became full professor and remained until 1991. For a long time he was chairman of the "Schools Council Committee for Wales". From 1972 to 1975 he was president of the International Union of Radio Science, and of EISCAT, of the "Year of the quiet Sun". In 1973 he became a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, and was knighted in 1976. He won the

Chree medal and prize The Edward Appleton Medal and Prize is awarded by the Institute of Physics for distinguished research in environmental, earth or atmospheric physics. Originally named after Charles Chree, the British physicist and former President of the Physica ...

in 1983. He died on 11 March 1996. EISCAT has awarded 8 Sir Granville Beynon medals to distinguished persons since 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beynon, Granville 1914 births 1996 deaths People from Swansea British physicists Welsh physicists Academics of Aberystwyth University Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal Society 20th-century British physicists 20th-century Welsh scientists