Ernest Walton
Ernest Walton was an Irish physicist. Together with John Cockcroft, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, in 1951. Walton studied Mathematics and experimental physics at Trinity College in Dublin. In 1934, he married Freda Wilson, the daughter of a methodist priest. They had two sons and two daughters. He was the first to split the atom. He is best known for his work with John Cockcroft to construct one of the earliest types of particle accelerator, the Cockcroft–Walton generator. In experiments performed at Cambridge University in the early 1930s using the generator, Walton and Cockcroft became the first team to use a particle beam to transform one element to another. According to their Nobel Prize citation: "Thus, for the first time, a nuclear transmutation was produced by means entirely under human control".[1]
Ernest Walton | |
|---|---|
 Walton in 1951 | |
| Born | Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton 6 October 1903 |
| Died | 25 June 1995 (aged 91) Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Resting place | Dean's Grange Cemetery, Deansgrange |
| Alma mater | Trinity College Dublin Trinity College, Cambridge (PhD) |
| Known for | First disintegration of an atomic nucleus by artificially accelerated protons ("splitting the atom") |
| Spouse |
Winifred Wilson (m. 1934) |
| Children | 4 |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions |
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| Doctoral advisor | Ernest Rutherford |
| 18th Erasmus Smith's Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy | |
| In office 1946–1974 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Ditchburn |
| Succeeded by | Brian Henderson |
| Signature | |
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References
change- ↑ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1951 - Ceremony Speech". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
