Key Information
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1940-1985 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent
0.02 cubic metres (2 boxes)
Scope and content
Papers, 1940-1985, of Wilfrid Bennett Lewis, largely relating to his work on radar during World War Two and including copy of nominal roll of Air Ministry Research Establishment, Worth Matravers, 1940, giving staff details; copies of Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) Lists (organization charts), 1941-1944; photocopy of TRE nominal roll, May 1942, giving staff details; photograph of TRE personnel, Nov 1945; two photographs of 'Empire Scientific Conference Visit to TRE', 4 Jul 1946; correspondence between R Van de Hulst and W B Lewis and synopsis of thesis on radar history by Van de Hulst, 1981. Printed material, including scientific papers and newsletters, is largely by authors other than Lewis and comprises offprints, 1946, of W B Lewis, 'Fluctuations in Streams of Thermal Radiation' (from Proceedings of the Physical Society , vol lix, 1947) and 'Radar Receivers' (from Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers , vol 93, pt IIIA, no 1, 1946); TRE Memorandum L/M50/WBL: W B Lewis, 'Ultimate limits of Infrared Technique'; Physics Department (TRE) newsletters, 1950, 1952-1953, 1956-1957, 1960-1961, with publications 1957-1960; A M Uttley, The Computation of Pattern Differences', Nov 1952, TRE Gt Malvern; TRE Technical Notes nos 70, 76, 86, 91, 108-109, 114, 120-1, on topics including radar; TRE Report T 2131: W Culshaw, 'The Michelson Interferometer at Millimetre Wavelengths'; TRE Memorandum, Ref RAS/48/7: R A Smith, 'Note on the relative advantages of various types of Rectifier'; part of TRE Technical note no 52, 'Thin film resistors of the noble metals'; publications from the Physics Department, Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) Malvern, 1947-1956; RRE newsletters and research reviews, 1962, 1964-1971; Royal Signals and Radar Establishment newsletters and research reviews, 1980-1982, 1985.
General Information
Name of creator
Biographical history
Born, 1908; educated at Haileybury College, Hertfordshire, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University; research in radioactivity and nuclear physics, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, 1930-1939; University Demonstrator in Physics, 1934; Research Fellowship, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, 1934-1940; University Lecturer in Physics, 1937; seconded, as Senior Scientific Officer, to Air Ministry Research Establishment, Bawdsey Manor, Suffolk, 1939; establishment moved to Dundee and then to Worth Matravers, Dorset; work on radar for Air Ministry/Ministry of Supply at the Telecommunications Research Establishment, Great Malvern, Worcestershire, 1942-1946; Fellow of the Royal Society, 1945; Chief Superintendent, Telecommunications Research Establishment, Ministry of Aircraft Production, 1945-1946; awarded CBE, 1946; Director of Division of Atomic Energy Research, National Research Council of Canada, 1946-1952; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, 1952; Vice President, Research and Development, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, 1952-1963; Canadian Representative, UN Scientific Advisory Committee, 1955-1987; President, American Nuclear Society, 1961; Senior Vice President, Science, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, 1963-1973; Companion of the Order of Canada, 1967; Canadian Association of Physicists 25th Anniversary Gold Medal, 1970; Honorary Fellow, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge; Royal Medal, Royal Society, 1972; Distinguished Professor of Science, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 1973-1987; died, 1987. Publications include: Electrical counting, with special reference to counting alpha and beta particles (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1942); as joint editor with Abram Chayes, International arrangements for nuclear fuel reprocessing (Ballinger, for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 1977); articles in Wireless Engineer .
Repository
Custodial history
Placed in the Centre by Lewis' family in 1990.
Conditions governing access
Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied from open material for research purposes only.
Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, via the Archives.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Finding aids
This collection level description.
Existence and location of originals
Please note: We require 7 days notice to retrieve this collection as part, or all of it, is held off-campus. Read more ›
Related materials
Alternative identifier(s)
Place access points
People and Organisations
- Lewis, Wilfrid Bennett, 1908-1987, physicist (Subject)
- Air Ministry Research Establishment, Worth Matravers (Subject)
- Royal Radar Establishment (Subject)
- Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (Subject)
- Telecommunications Research Establishment (Subject)
Genre access points
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.
Script(s)
Archivist's note
Compiled by Iain Mutch; revised by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Source: Who's Who.