Prof. Ernest O. Lawrence: Duddell Medallist

Abstract

THE formal presentation of the seventeenth Duddell Medal of the Physical Society to Prof. E. O. Lawrence, the award of which was announced in NATURE of June 1, p. 852, was made at a dinner of the American Physical Society in Philadelphia on December 27 by Mr. Neville Butler, First Counsellor to the British Embassy and H.M. Chargé d'Affaires ad interim in Washington—it had been the late Lord Lothian's intention to present the medal. At a luncheon held by the Physical Society in London on the same day, an interesting word picture of Prof. Lawrence was given by his friend and former pupil, Dr. W. B. Mann. Dr. Mann first referred briefly to the development of the Berkeley cyclotrons, from the 4-inch instrument in 1930 (when Lawrence, at the age of twenty-nine, had recently been appointed professor of physics in the University of California), to the 37-inch (85-ton) and 60-inch (220-ton) cyclotrons and the projected giant cyclotron of some 4,900 tons. He then described the team work of the Radiation iaboratory at Berkeley and recalled many incidents to show the outstanding qualities of its distinguished chief—his deep, innate sense of physics, his skill in finding the causes of breakdowns, his large share in making the subsequent readjustments until perfect running was again effected, his boisterous and irrepressible enthusiasm away from work (such a on a ski-trip or in his motor-cruiser on San Francisco Bay), and his complete selflessness. Prof. Birge had quoted Lawrence's first remark on being informed of the award to him of the Nobel Prize for physics in 1939: “It goes without saying that it is the laboratory that is honoured, and I share the honours with my co-workers past and present.” Again, the closing words of Lawrence's response at the presentation of that Prize were: “May I again give expression to a profound feeling of gratitude and appreciation for this great honour, which I share with the university and with all those outside who have contributed to make our work possible and, above all, with my valued colleagues and co-workers both past and present.” An article based upon Dr. Mann's address appears in the January issue of the Proceedings of the Physical Society.