John William Nicholson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Adams Prize (1919)
- FRS (1917)[1]
John William Nicholson | |
|---|---|
 Nicholson second from left in the automobile, 1913 | |
| Born | 1 November 1881 Darlington, County Durham, England |
| Died | 3 October 1955 (aged 73) |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions | King’s College London Queen’s University Belfast |
John William Nicholson, FRS[1] (1 November 1881 – 3 October 1955) was an English mathematician and physicist. Nicholson is noted as the first to create an atomic model that quantized angular momentum as h/2π.[2][3] Nicholson was also the first to create a nuclear and quantum theory that explains spectral line radiation as electrons descend toward the nucleus, identifying hitherto unknown solar and nebular spectral lines.[4][5] Niels Bohr quoted him in his 1913 paper of the Bohr model of the atom.[6]
Nicholson studied at the University of Manchester, residing in Hulme Hall, where he earned a B.Sc. and later an M.Sc. Among his peers was Arthur Stanley Eddington, who became a lifelong friend. They both continued to Trinity College, Cambridge, where Nicholson passed the Mathematical Tripos in 1904 as Twelfth Wrangler. He was awarded the Isaac Newton Studentship in 1906, was a Smith's Prizeman in 1907, and won the Adams Prize in 1913 and 1917.[1]
Career
Nicholson began his academic career as a lecturer at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge and later at Queen’s University Belfast. In 1912, he was appointed Professor of Mathematics at King’s College London, where he taught alongside S. A. F. White. Nicholson was known as an inspiring but occasionally absent-minded lecturer. His students at King's College recalled that, despite sometimes arriving late, his lectures were highly valued for their depth and insight.[1]
Based on the results of astronomical spectroscopy of nebula he proposed in 1911 the existence of several yet undiscovered elements. Coronium with an atomic weight of 0.51282, nebulium with a weight of 1.6281 and protofluorine with a weight of 2.361.[1] Ira Sprague Bowen was able to attribute the spectroscopical lines of nebulium to doubly ionized oxygen making the new elements obsolete for their explanation.[7] Some authors have pointed out the remarkable success that Nicholson's work initially experienced in spite of being founded on concepts that were eventually shown to be incorrect.[8]
