Recollections of Patrick Blackett 1945-70 1

Abstract

The author was privileged to work closely with Patrick Blackett from 1945 over a continuous period of 25 years, first at Manchester University and later at Imperial College, London. In 1945, Blackett returned to Manchester determined to build up his Department of Physics, both undergraduate numbers and the volume of research. He believed passionately that in Britain a satisfactory and effective volume of research in a department could only be achieved if the number of capable undergraduates was much larger than in most pre-war physics departments. Furthermore, he believed the country was in need of more physics graduates. He exploited this belief relentlessly over the 25–year period. In 1945, Blackett did not have a cut and dried action plan for his department, rather his ideas on how to achieve his purpose developed over time. Early on, however, he became concerned over the small number of professorships available. Pre-war, about 20% of physics staff were professors, but after the war this percentage gradually fell, reaching about 10% by the early 1960s. He took action to stem this trend in his own departments well before 1960. Over the years Blackett realized he wanted to leave as his legacy a physics department with a wide spread of research expertise in physics and astronomy. If most of the individual research groups in his department were to make the impact he wanted on the world physics scene, then the overall size of the department was inevitably large, compared with the national average. Without doubt Patrick Blackett made a very significant contribution to the wellbeing and development of physics in Britain, well beyond the bounds of Manchester and Imperial College.