| Authorised form of name | Gaydon; Alfred Gordon (1911 - 2004); Spectroscopist |
| Other forms of name | Dick Gaydon |
| Surname | Gaydon |
| Forenames | Alfred Gordon |
| Dates | 1911 - 2004 |
| Nationality | British |
| Dates and places | Birth:
London, England (26 September 1911)
Death:
16 April 2004 |
| Activity | Occupation:
Spectroscopist
Education:
Kingston Grammar School; Royal College of Science (Imperial College), read Physics (1929)
Career:
Postgraduate research, Imperial College under Alfred Fowler; Cotton Research Association, Manchester, (1934-1936); lost an eye in a near fatal accident at the Shirley Institute of the Cotton Research Association (1936); returned to Imperial College; Royal Society Rumford Medal (1953); Professor of Molecular Spectroscopy, Imperial College (1961); Bernard Lewis Gold Medal of the Combustion Institute; Gaydon Award, British Section of the Combustion Institute - to be presented to a member of the British Section who is the author of the paper published in the Proceedings of the (Biennial) International Symposium on Combustion that is deemed to make the most significant contribution to combustion research (2002) |
| Royal Society activity | Membership:
Fellow
Election Date:
19/03/1953
Medals/Prizes:
Rumford Medal 1960 |
| Relationships | Married (1940) Phyllis Gaze (died 1981) |
| Sources | Sources:
Lives Remembered in The Times (24/05/2004); Obituary in Daily Telegraph (21/06/2004)
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2005 vol 51 pp 169-184, plate, by F J Weinberg FRS |
| Royal Society code | NA5173 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| IM/001622 | Gaydon, Alfred Gordon | nd |
| IM/GA/WS/4433 | Gaydon, Alfred Gordon | nd |
| IM/GA/JGRS/8359 | Gaydon, Alfred Gordon | 1984 |
| RR/48/99 | Referee's report by Owen Willans Richardson, on a paper 'Spectrum of the afterglow of carbon dioxide' by Alfred Fowler and Alfred Gordon Gaydon | [July 1933] |
| RR/53/89 | Referee's report by Robert John Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh, on a paper 'Spectrum of the afterglow of sulphur dioxide' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon | [June 1934] |
| RR/67/189 | Letter from David Randall Pye on a paper 'Flame spectra in the photographic infra-red' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon to Alfred Charles Glyn Egerton | 17 January 1941 |
| RR/71/251 | Referee's report by Alfred Gordon Gaydon, on a paper 'Infra-red spectra and state of aggregation. II' by Rex Edward Richards and Harold Warris Thompson | 1948 |
| RR/66/94 | Referee's report by William Edward Curtis, on two papers 'The spectrum of rubidium hydride, RbH I. Analysis' and 'The spectrum, of rubidium hydride, RbH - II. Potential curves, wave functions, and intensity distribution' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon and R W B Pearse | [July 1939] |
| RR/67/188 | Referee's report by William Edward Curtis on a paper 'Flame spectra in the photographic infra-red' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon | August 1940 |
| RR/67/187 | Memorandum from J D Griffith Davies, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society on a paper 'Flame spectra in the photographic infra-red' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon to Walter Norman Haworth | 24 June 1942 |
| RR/67/190 | Referee's report by William Edward Curtis on a paper 'The flame spectrum of carbon monoxide' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon | 1940 |
| RR/68/68 | Letter from David Randall Pye, to Alfred Charles Glyn Egerton, regarding a paper 'The spectra of chilled hydrocarbon flames' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon | 3 June 1941 |
| RR/68/69 | Memoranda, on a paper 'The spectra of chilled hydrocarbon flames' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon | 19 June 1941 |
| RR/71/116 | Referee's report by Harold Warris Thompson, on a paper 'The influence of diffusion on flame propagation' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon and H G Wolfhard | [1948] |
| RR/69/119 | Referee's report by Harold Warris Thompson, on a paper 'The spectra of flames containing oxides of sulphur' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon and G. Whittingham | 1946 |
| RR/68/351 | Referee's report by William Edward Curtis, on a paper 'The flame spectrum of carbon monoxide III. The cool flame' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon | [1943] |
| RR/68/353 | Referee's report by William Edward Curtis, on a paper 'The band spectrum of nitrogen: new singlet systems' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon | [1943] |
| RR/68/382 | Referee's report by Alfred Gordon Gaydon, on a paper 'The ultra-violet spectra and electron configuration of HgF and related halide molecules' by H G Howell | [1943] |
| RR/68/352 | Referee's report by Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, on a paper 'Continuous spectra inflames: the role of atomic oxygen in combustion' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon | [1943] |
| RR/68/468 | Referee's report by Owen Willans Richardson, on a paper 'The dissociation energies of CO, N2, NO and CN' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon and William George Penney | [1944] |
| RR/72/123 | Referee's report by Harold Warris Thompson, on a paper 'Spectroscopic studies of low-pressure flames. II. Effective translational and rotational temperatures from CH bands' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon and H G Wolfhard | 1949 |
| RR/71/117 | Referee's report by Harold Warris Thompson, on a paper 'Spectroscopic studies of low-pressure flames; temperature measurements in acetylene flames' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon and H G Wolfhard | [1948] |
| RR/71/27 | Referee's report by Alfred Gordon Gaydon, on a paper 'The intensity distribution in the nitrogen band systems emitted from the earth’s upper atmosphere' by David Robert Bates | [1948] |
| RR/71/29 | Referee's report by Alfred Gordon Gaydon, on a paper 'The emission of the negative system of nitrogen from the upper atmosphere and the significance of the twilight flash in the theory of the ionosphere' by David Robert Bates | [1948] |
| RR/71/260 | Referee's report by Alfred Gordon Gaydon, on a paper 'Vibration spectra of hydrocarbon molecules I. Frequencies due to deformation vibrations of hydrogen atoms attached to a double bond' by Norman Sheppard and Gordon Brims Black Mcivor Sutherland | 1948 |
| RR/72/127 | Referee's report by William Edward Curtis, on a paper 'Spectroscopic studies of low-pressure flames III. Effective rotational temperatures and excitation mechanism for C2 bands' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon and H G Wolfhard | 1949 |
| RR/72/125 | Referee's report by Harold Warris Thompson, on a paper 'Spectroscopic studies of low-pressure flames IV. Measurements of light yield for C2 bands' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon and H G Wolfhard | 1949 |
| RR/71/187 | Referee's report by Alfred Gordon Gaydon, on a paper 'The heats of formation of free CN and free CH2, and the relationship between D(CO), D(CN) and D(N2)' by L H Long | [1948] |
| RR/72/126 | Referee's report by Harold Warris Thompson, on a paper 'Spectroscopic studies of low-pressure flames III. Effective rotational temperatures and excitation mechanism for C2 bands' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon and H G Wolfhard | 1949 |
| RR/72/124 | Referee's report by William Edward Curtis, on a paper 'Spectroscopic studies of low-pressure flames IV. Measurements of light yield for C2 bands' by Alfred Gordon Gaydon and H G Wolfhard | 1949 |
| RR/72/234 | Referee's report by Alfred Gordon Gaydon, on a paper 'Vibration spectra of hydrocarbon molecules - II. Skeletal frequencies in certain branched paraffins' by Delia M Simpson and Gordon Brims Black Mcivor Sutherland | 1949 |
| EC/1953/11 | Gaydon, Alfred Gordon: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |