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C. F. Powell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cecil Powell
FRS
Powell in 1950
Born
Cecil Frank Powell

(1903-12-05)5 December 1903
Tonbridge, England, UKGBI
Died9 August 1969(1969-08-09) (aged 65)
Casargo, Lombardy, Italy
EducationJudd School
Alma mater
Known forDiscovery of the pion
Spouse
Isobel Artner
​
(m. 1932)​
Children2
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsParticle physics
InstitutionsUniversity of Bristol (1927–1969)
Doctoral advisors
Notable students

Cecil Frank Powell (5 December 1903 – 9 August 1969) was a British experimental physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1950 for heading the team that developed the photographic method of studying nuclear processes, and for the resulting discovery of the pion (pi-meson).[2]

Education

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Cecil Frank Powell was born on 5 December 1903 in Tonbridge, England, the son of Frank Powell, a gunsmith, and Elizabeth Caroline Bisacre.[3]

Powell was educated at a local primary school before gaining a scholarship to the Judd School in Tonbridge. He then entered Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, graduating in 1925 with First Class Honours in the Natural Sciences Tripos. After completing his bachelor's degree, he worked under Ernest Rutherford and C. T. R. Wilson in the Cavendish Laboratory, conducting research on condensation phenomena. He received his Ph.D. in Physics in 1927.[4]

In 1932, Powell married Isobel Artner (1907–1995). They had two daughters, Jane and Annie.[4][5]

Career and research

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In 1927, Powell became a research assistant to Arthur Mannering Tyndall in the H. H. Wills Physical Laboratory at the University of Bristol. He was later appointed lecturer and, in 1948, Melville Wills Professor of Physics.[6] In 1936, he took part in a Royal Society expedition to Montserrat in the West Indies as part of a study of a damaging earthquake swarm.[7] He appears on a stamp issued in Grenada.[8]

During his time at Bristol University, Powell applied himself to the development of techniques for measuring the mobility of positive ions, to establishing the nature of the ions in common gases, and to the construction and use of a Cockcroft–Walton generator to study the scattering of atomic nuclei.[4] He also began to develop methods employing specialised photographic emulsions to facilitate the recording of the tracks of elementary particles, and in 1938 began applying this technique to the study of cosmic radiation,[4] exposing photographic plates at high-altitude, at the tops of mountains and using specially designed balloons,[9] collaborating in the study with Giuseppe Occhialini, Hugh Muirhead, and César Lattes. This work led in 1947 to the discovery of the pion (pi-meson),[10] which proved to be the hypothetical particle proposed in 1935 by Hideki Yukawa in his theory of nuclear forces.[11]

In 1950, Powell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons made with this method." Lattes was working with him at the time of the discovery and had improved the sensitivity of the photographic emulsion. Lattes was the first to write an article describing the discovery that would lead to the Nobel Prize.[12] Debendra Mohan Bose and Bibha Chowdhuri published three consecutive papers in Nature, but could not continue further investigation on account of "non-availability of more sensitive emulsion plates" during the war years.

Seven years after this discovery of mesons by Bose and Chowdhuri, Powell made the same discovery of pions and muons and further decay of muons to electrons… using the same technique". He acknowledged in his book, "In 1941, Bose and Chaudhuri (sic) had pointed it out that it is possible, in principle, to distinguish between the tracks of protons and mesons in an emulsion… They concluded that many of the charged particles arrested in their plates were lighter than protons, their mean mass being … the physical basis of their method was correct and their work represents the first approach to the scattering method of determining momenta of charged particles by observation of their tracks in emulsion". In fact, the measured mass of the particle by Bose and Chowdhuri was very close to the accepted value measured by Powell who used improved "full-tone" plates.[13] From 1952, Powell was appointed director of several expeditions to Sardinia and the Po Valley, Italy, utilizing high-altitude balloon flights.[4]

In 1955, Powell, also a member of the World Federation of Scientific Workers,[14] added his signature to the Russell–Einstein Manifesto put forward by Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, and Joseph Rotblat, and was involved in preparations for the first Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs.[14] As Rotblat put it, "Cecil Powell has been the backbone of the Pugwash Movement. He gave it coherence, endurance and vitality." Powell chaired the meetings of the Pugwash Continuing Committee, often standing in for Bertrand Russell, and attended meetings until 1968.[15]

In 1961, Powell served on the Scientific Policy Committee of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN).[4]

Global policy

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He was one of the signatories of the agreement to convene a convention for drafting a world constitution.[16][17] As a result, for the first time in human history, a World Constituent Assembly convened to draft and adopt the Constitution for the Federation of Earth.[18]

Death

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Memorial bench dedicated to Powell outside the Capanna Vittoria restaurant, on the Alpe Giumello in Casargo, Italy

On 9 August 1969, Powell died of a heart attack while on holiday with his wife in the Valsassina region of Italy, lodging in a house in Sanico, in the Province of Lecco.[19][20]

Giuseppe Occhialini had a wooden bench built with Powell's name carved into a commemorative plaque, and then transported it to Premana, a village in the mountains above Lake Como.[21] It was installed on the path where he died, outside the Rifugio Capanna Vittoria (now the Capanna Vittoria restaurant), on the Alpe Giumello, in Casargo.[19] Occhialini's reason was, "...if that bench had already been there, Powell would probably have stopped to rest there."[21]

Recognition

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Memberships

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Country Year Institute Type Ref.
United Kingdom 1949 Royal Society Fellow [22]

Awards

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Country Year Institute Award Citation Ref.
United Kingdom 1949 Royal Society Hughes Medal "For his distinguished work on the photography of particle tracks in connection with the discovery of mesons and their transformation" [23]
Sweden 1950 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Nobel Prize in Physics "For his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and his discoveries regarding mesons made with this method" [2]
United Kingdom 1961 Royal Society Royal Medal "In recognition of his pioneering work on the development of the photographic emulsion technique in the investigation of cosmic rays, and the outstanding results derived therefrom on the elementary particles in cosmic radiation" [24]
Soviet Union 1967 Soviet Academy of Sciences Lomonosov Gold Medal "For outstanding achievements in the field of elementary particle physics" [25]

Commemorations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Cecil Frank Powell - Physics Tree". academictree.org. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1950". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 October 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
  3. ^ Frank, F. C.; Perkins, D. H. (1971). "Cecil Frank Powell 1903-1969". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 17: 541–563. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1971.0021.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Cecil Powell – Biographical". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 July 2025. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  5. ^ a b "Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society (CHIS)". Clifton and Hotwells Improvement Society (CHIS). Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Nobel Prizes and Fellowships". bristol.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  7. ^ Powell, C. F. (1938). "The Royal Society expedition to Montserrat, B.W.I. Final report". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences. 237 (771): 1–34. Bibcode:1938RSPTA.237....1P. doi:10.1098/rsta.1938.0002.
  8. ^ "Cecil Powell". Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  9. ^ "Powell, Cecil". Encyclopædia Britannica. London: Encyclopædia Britannica Limited. 1962.
  10. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1901-2000". nobelprize.org. 9 February 2000. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  11. ^ Lattes, C. M. G.; Muirhead, H.; Occhialini, G. P. S.; Powell, C. F. (1947). "Processes Involving Charged Mesons". Nature. 159 (4047): 694. Bibcode:1947Natur.159..694L. doi:10.1038/159694a0. S2CID 4152828.
  12. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1950". nobelprize.org/. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  13. ^ "A forgotten legend". The Statesman. 23 September 2018. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  14. ^ a b "The First Pugwash Conference". pugwash.org. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  15. ^ "The Origins of the Russell-Einstein Manifesto by Sandra Ionno Butcher" (PDF). Pugwash History Series. Council of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. May 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
  16. ^ "Letters from Thane Read asking Helen Keller to sign the World Constitution for world peace. 1961". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  17. ^ "Letter from World Constitution Coordinating Committee to Helen, enclosing current materials". Helen Keller Archive. American Foundation for the Blind. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  18. ^ "Preparing earth constitution | Global Strategies & Solutions | The Encyclopedia of World Problems". The Encyclopedia of World Problems | Union of International Associations (UIA). Archived from the original on 19 July 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  19. ^ a b c "Giumello. La storia che non t'aspetti il Premio Nobel che amava la Valsassina" [Giumello. The surprising story of the Nobel Prize winner that loved Valsassina]. valsassinanews.com (in Italian). Valsassina: Valsassina News. 26 May 2013. Archived from the original on 14 August 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
  20. ^ Camerini, U. (1969). "Cecil Powell, Cosmic-Ray Physicist, Dies in Italy". Physics Today. 22 (11): 107–109. Bibcode:1969PhT....22k.107C. doi:10.1063/1.3035243.
  21. ^ a b Vegni, Guido (2006). "Giuseppe Occhialini in Milan in the sixties and beyond: His legacy for particle physics and his influence on young researchers and students". In Redondi, Pietro; et al. (eds.). The Scientific Legacy of Beppo Occhialini. Società Italiana di Fisica. Bologna: Springer. p. 124. ISBN 978-3-540-37353-7. LCCN 2006933051. OCLC 875693069.
  22. ^ "Search past Fellows". Royal Society. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  23. ^ "Hughes Medal". Royal Society. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  24. ^ "Royal Medal". Royal Society. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  25. ^ "Lomonosov Gold Medal" (in Russian). Russian Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 25 January 2025. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
[edit]
  • Media related to Cecil Frank Powell at Wikimedia Commons
  • C. F. Powell on Nobelprize.org Edit this at Wikidata including the Nobel Lecture, 11 December 1950 The Cosmic Radiation
  • Portrait photograph of Powell at the American Institute of Physics
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