| Description | Papers and correspondence of physicist Charles Vernon Boys. The collection includes his notebooks, correspondence, patents and other material, including corrected and translated editions of books, notably his popular book on 'Soap bubbles'. There is also material relating to the wider Boys family, including some obituary material gathered by his son, Geoffrey Vernon Boys. |
| AdminHistory | Charles Vernon Boys was born in Rutlandshire, where his father was the local reverand. He went to school in Marlborough and studied at the Royal School of Mines between 1873 and 1876, graduating in mining and metallurgy.
He was appointed as a demonstrator in Physics at the School in 1881, and went on to be recognised for his invention of fused quartz fibres. In 1897 he was appointed as a Metropolitan Gas Referee to assist the government with setting a first price for coal gas in the United Kingdom.
He was also well known for presenting the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 1899 on soap bubbles. |