James Robert Atkinson, MA, FInstP,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

, FRMetS (17 February 1916 – 9 May 2008) was a British physicist.Times Online Obituary
/ref>

Career

On graduating from

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

in 1938 he took a research post at the Air Ministry Research Establishment in Bawdsey ManorBatt, Reg, "''The Radar Army: Winning the War of the Airwaves''", Robert Hale Ltd. 1991 where he carried out research into ‘afterglow’ Cathode Ray Tubes, later taking on a special assignment to upgrade the

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

radar stations. In 1940 he joined the Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) where he worked on research into 10 cm, 3 cm and 1 cm wave radar later going on to work on research into super-refraction phenomena and infra red detectors for scope guided missile weapons. After the war he joined Glasgow University’s Natural Philosophy department under Professor Philip Dee and between 1945 and 1958 he worked on expansion, diffusion and bubble chambers investigating nuclear photodisintegration by gamma rays. In 1958 he took up a post at UKAEA Dounreay where he took charge of the testing reactor.NASA Technical Memorandum X-884
/ref> Moving on in 1966 he became Assistant Director at the British Ship Research Association working on research into ship architecture, vibration and noise. In 1976 he joined the Institute of Offshore Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh where he pursued research into wave energy before retiring in 1979.

References

External links

Bawdsey ManorBawdsey Radar GroupThe Heritage of Particle Physics in GlasgowThe Herald ObituaryTimes Online Obituary

Bibliography

*J R Atkinson ''et al.'' 1938
The accuracy of rectifier-photoelectric cells
', Proceedings of the. Physics. Society Vol. 50 No.6 p. 934-946 *J R Atkinson & A f Howartson 1951
Nuclear Scattering of Electrons and Positrons in Argon
', Philosophical Magazine 42, p. 1136-45 (October 1951) *J R Atkinson 1955
Condensation Nuclei by U.V. Light
', Geofisica pura e applicata 31, p. 54 *J R Atkinson & A J Barnard 1952

', Nature 169, p. 170 - 173 (2 February 1952) *J R Atkinson ''et al.'' 1956
The Photodisintegration of Nitrogen
', Proceedings of the. Physics. Society Vol.A 69 No.2 p. 77-92 *J R Atkinson 1958 ''Education in the Atom Age III: Stepping Up the Output of Scientists and Technologists'', The Scottish Educational Journal Vol. 41 p. 13-17 (3 January 1958) *J R Atkinson ''et al.'' 1960
Scattering of Electrons and Positrons by Xenon and Mercury
', Proceedings of the. Physics. Society Vol.75 No.3 p. 447-449 *J R Atkinson 1972
An Integrated Approach to Design and Production
', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences Vol. 273 p. 99-118 {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, James 1916 births 2008 deaths English physicists Radar pioneers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People from Malvern, Worcestershire Academics of the University of Glasgow