Physics in a university laboratory before and after World War II

Abstract

I started research in the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge in 1924, exactly fifty years ago, and I remained a member of the Laboratory until 1960. During that time I spent 15 years before the war, and 15 years after, as a research worker, and during the war I was a member of a government research and development establishment. I shall attempt to compare the methods of working in the Laboratory in the periods before and after the war. The comparison will be based partly on available information about expenditure and number of staff, and partly on personal experience. I shall try to relate differences in the two periods to the experiences of those, like myself, who worked elsewhere during the war, and I shall try to make allowance for changes in the seniority of my position in the Laboratory. Of course I realise that I can speak of only one university physics laboratory out of the many in the country, but I am hopeful that what happened there may not differ too much from what happened elsewhere. It has not been easy to get the appropriate statistical information for the years before 1960. One reason is that the laboratory did not keep detailed records; I shall return to discuss that situation later. Another reason is that it is often difficult to extract the necessary information from the University Reporter because the character of the record is changed from time to time. Although another investigator might produce statistics somewhat different from mine, I nevertheless venture to think that they would lead to the same conclusions.