| Authorised form of name | Oliphant; Sir; Marcus Laurence Elwin (1901 - 2000) |
| Other forms of name | Mark |
| Dates | 1901 - 2000 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Place of birth | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Date of birth | 08/10/1901 |
| Place of death | Canberra, Australia |
| Date of death | 14/07/2000 |
| Occupation | Physicist |
| Activity | Education:
Unley High School; Adelaide High School; Adelaide University
Career:
Exhibitioner, Cambridge University (1927); Assistant Director of Research, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge (1934?) and produced the first description of hydrogen fusion; Poynting Professor of Physics, Birmingham University (1937-1950); on mission to America (1941-1943); worked on Hiroshima bomb at Berkeley (1943-1945); first Scientific Advisor to the UN Atomic Energy Commission (1946); on Council to set up Australian National University (ANU); Director, Research School of Physical Sciences, ANU (1950-1963); Professor of Physics of Ionised Gases, Institute of Advanced Studies (1964-1967) Governor, South Australia (1971-1976); Founder member of the Pugwash group of scientists against nuclear weapons
Honours:
KBE 1959; Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) 1977
Memberships:
Australian Academy of Sciences (Founder; President, 1954-1957)
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 06/05/1937 |
| Age at election | 35 |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
Council: 1946-1948
Medals and prizes:
Hughes Medal 1943
Lectures:
Bakerian 1955; Rutherford 1955 |
| Relationships | Son of Harold Oliphant and his wife Beatrice; married (1925) Rosa Wilbraham (died 1987) |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; Guardian, 18 July 2000; DT, 18 July 2000; Times, 18 July 2000; Independent 19 July 2000; AE
Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2001 vol 47 pp 383-393, plate, by Brebis Bleaney FRS
References:
W E Burcham, 'The Cavendish High-Voltage Laboratory 1935-39' in NR 1999 vol 53 pp 121-134
Sir Mark Oliphant, 'Some Personal Recollections of Rutherford, the Man' in NR 1972-3 vol 27 pp 7-23
R Singh and F Riess, 'The nobel laureate Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman FRS and his contacts with the British Scientific community in a social and political context' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 47-64
B Lovell, 'The cavity magnetron in World War II: was the secrecy justified?' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 283 - 294 |
| Code | NA4541 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| PB/7/2/4/3 | Visit to Australia, New Zealand and Singapore | 1952-1953 |
| PB/1/33/3/5 | Companion of Honour | 1965 |
| PB/9/2/3/11/8 | Personal references and appointments: G | |
| GLB/65/82 | M L Oliphant | May 1960 |
| MM/18/24A | Letter from Mark Oliphant to David Martin, Executive Secretary, Royal Society | 23 November 1971 |
| PB/7/2/4/14/4 | Correspondence with colleagues in Australia, re Blackett's visit to New Zealand and Asutralia, 1966 | June-October 1966 |
| PB/7/2/1/17 | 'Reflections on science and technology in developing countries' | 1969 |
| PB/4/11/16 | Correspondence with Mark Oliphant, especially regarding his project for cyclotron at Birmingham University and report (September) on Snchrotron, and press-cutting. | May 1946 |
| RR/71/133 | Referee's report by Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'The emission of light charged particles in the slow neutron fission of uranium' by L L Green and D L Livesey | [1948] |
| RR/70/3 | Referee's report by Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'The transmutation of magnesium aluminium and silicon by deuterons' by H R Allen and C A Wilkinson | 1947 |
| RR/69/45 | Referee's report by Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'The assignment of the slow-neutron-produced activities of thallium and the dual disintegration of radium E' by E Broda and Norman Feather | 1946 |
| RR/67/60 | Referee's report by Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'X-ray electrons expelled from metals by silver Ka1 radiations' by C J Birkett Clews and Harold Roper Robinson | June 1940 |
| RR/67/365 | Letter from Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on two papers 'Phosphorescence and electron traps - I. The study of trap distributions' and Phosphorescence and electron traps II. The interpretation of long-period phosphorescence' by John Turton Randall and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins | 12 November 1940 |
| RR/70/2 | Letter from Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'Resonance phenomena in the interaction of fact neutrons with beryllium and aluminium' by K W Allen , William Ernest Burcham and Denys Haigh Wilkinson | 31 May 1947 |
| RR/71/183 | Referee's report by Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'An investigation of the neutrons produced in the deuteron-deuteron reaction' by D L Livesey and Denys Haigh Wilkinson | [1948] |
| RR/67/23 | Referee's report by Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'The distribution of autelectronic emission from single crystal metal points. I. Tungsten, molybdenum, nickel in the clean state' by M Benjamin and R O Jenkins | May 1940 |
| RR/67/8 | Letter from Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'The electric structure of solid dielectrics in relation to the theory of electronic breakdown' by A E W Austen and S Whitehead to J D Griffith Davies, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society | 28 February 1940 |
| PB/1/33/1/7 | Nobel Prize | 1948 |
| EC/1937/14 | Oliphant, Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/003373 | Oliphant, Sir Marcus Lawrence Elwin | nd |
| PB/4/11/9 | Important letter from Mark Oliphant re Technical and Anderson Committees. | January 1946 |
| IM/GA/WS/1250 | Oliphant, Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin | nd |
| RR/66/241 | Letter from John David Griffith Davies, to Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, regarding a paper 'The phosphorescence of various solids' by John Turton Randall and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins | 7 February 1940 |
| RR/70/1 | Referee's report by Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'Resonance phenomena in the interaction of fact neutrons with beryllium and aluminium' by K W Allen , William Ernest Burcham and Denys Haigh Wilkinson | 1947 |
| PB/8/18/6/3 | Blackett's correspondence with colleagues and friends re text or opinions of 'Military and political consequences of atomic energy' | 1948-1949 |
| PB/1/33/2 | Correspondence concerning the Copley Medal of the Royal Society | 1956 |
| RR/66/236 | Letter from Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, regarding a paper 'The phosphorescence of various solids' by John Turton Randall and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins | 14 December 1939 |
| RR/70/167 | Referee's report by Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'The nuclear ß-spectra of thorium B - C and C - C', and the intensities of some ß-ray lines of thorium (B+C+C")' by D G E Martin and H O W Richardson | 1947 |
| RR/67/9 | Second referee's report by Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'The electric structure of solid dielectrics in relation to the theory of electronic breakdown' by A E W Austen and S Whitehead | May 1940 |
| RR/68/299 | Letter from Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, to Nevill Francis Mott, regarding a paper 'Short period phosphorescence and electron traps' by G F J Garlick and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins | 2 November 1940 |
| RR/66/242 | Letter from Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, to John David Griffith Davies, regarding a paper 'The phosphorescence of various solids' by John Turton Randall and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins | 10 February 1940 |
| RR/67/7 | Referee's report by Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'The electric structure of solid dielectrics in relation to the theory of electronic breakdown' by A E W Austen and S Whitehead | January 1940 |
| RR/68/321 | Receipt from Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, on a paper 'Short period phosphorescence and electron traps' by G F J Garlick and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins | 5 March 1944 |
| RR/68/337 | Letter to Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, regarding a paper 'Short period phosphorescence and electron traps' by G F J Garlick and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins | 2 March 1944 |