Lord Rayleigh and his influence on science and scientists

Abstract

John William Strutt, the third Lord Rayleigh (1842–1919), was a man of considerable scientific accomplishments. He contributed to theoretical and experimental physics and was one of the great pioneers in scientific and engineering methods. He was also a man who moved in the highest social and intellectual circles of his day. He was a relative of prime ministers and received almost every honor to which a British scientist could aspire. He was a Nobel prize winner and President of the Royal Society. His book, The Theory of Sound, has remained in print for over a century. From 1880 to 1885, after J. C. Maxwell's death, Lord Rayleigh directed the famed Carendish Laboratory at Cambridge University, but after that mainly lived in Terling Place, his country house near London where he established a remarkable scientific laboratory in which he later discovered argon. During his lifetime Lord Rayleigh published over 400 scientific papers and carried on a vigorous correspondence with scientists such as Maxwell, Kelvin, Stokes and others. This paper will examine his papers and correspondence to put his scientific contributions, particularly in acoustics, into historical perspective.