sir november australian mathematical physicist worked primarily fields atomic atmospheric physics graduate cambridge_university earned doctorate independent lecturer appointed professor applied mathematics second world war worked helped german magnetic naval mines admiralty mining establishment helped develop british naval mines persuaded admiralty release work manhattan_project joined worked electromagnetic separation process returned britain took returned london october find badly damaged bombing temporary accommodation appointed professor physics head london department merged astronomy remained head retired direction particle physics upper atmosphere physics worked rocket range develop rocket governing board anglo australian chairman british national chapter chairman helped found london early life born victoria australia child wife née wilson grew rural community enrolled local state school received merit certificate normally awarded completing eighth grade age stay years won scholarship moved mother president vice captain cricket team carrier age won scholarship entered thoughts studying chemistry impressed physics lectures given stroke luck year physics lectures normally given recalled fairly wide experience rate worst lecturer heard university played cricket tennis baseball played university awarded bachelor_of_arts physics class honours bachelor_of_arts mathematics meeting perth august met married january district office perth daughter time university offer doctor philosophy phd program undertook master science course experimental theoretical components cooperation dealt soft ray metal surfaces wave mechanics involved translating numerous articles german journals der external university_of_cambridge phd supervisor benefit travelling scholarship went cambridge perform research led scholarship expired years awarded exhibition scholarship time leading centres physics world laboratory scientists split atomic nucleus discovered confirmed existence appointed supervisor clear need supervision obtained phd shortly authored book atomic collision processes theory atomic collisions applied theory collisions models structure laboratory played hockey cricket team captain final year june independent lecturer member department arrived despite having lectures week found time write second book began working upper atmospheric physics frustrated time consuming process calculation physics workshop superintendent build small scale differential analog computer solve differential solve problems related low temperature photo oxygen upper atmosphere appointed professor applied mathematics following death previous year brought buckingham promising graduate student brought differential london destroyed air raid second world war second world war soon outbreak war september germans began naval campaign britain results devastating nineteen ships totaling tons sunk mines october totaling tons november destroyer ships damaged including cruiser nature mines initially unknown november bomb disposal team lieutenant commander recovered intact aerial threat revealed magnetic december joined group led soon joined number including buckingham came series enable navy successfully sweep mines hand deputy chief scientist scientific section design department early time job create mines good german ones brought team worked packaging protect dropped aircraft buckingham calculated theoretical effectiveness designed soon service group turned attention developing acoustic pressure mines retirement chief scientist august quebec agreement merged british american atomic bomb projects persuaded admiralty release work manhattan_project november set bomber develop electromagnetic separation process charge included american australian studied characteristics electric magnetic fields today known studied compounds feed electromagnetic process returned britain march replaced head british mission berkeley wartime papers produced group collected published magnetic fields later life returned london october find badly damaged bombing temporary accommodation allowed pick chose bats buckingham teach mathematics free choose research topics chose research physics carrying physical experiments situation lasted retired appointed professor physics head london department merged astronomy remained head retired served london vice took including buckingham moved like temporary accommodation owing bomb damage war new building construction develop technical infrastructure hired worked british mission berkeley department acquired including built moved away researching physics metals focused particle physics upper atmosphere physics saw potential computers arranged copy purpose electronic computer recruited programmers established computing unit buckingham left head elected fellow awarded hughes medal member council serving physical secretary vice president member founded initial members governing board member chairman services rockets seen enormous development military purposes second world war saw potential studying upper atmosphere major supporter space science wrote book subject history chairman established founding british national chapter chairman helped found london space science gave excuse visit australia trips involved testing balloons upper atmosphere research site victoria chairman visited near adelaide rocket range discuss collaboration british rocket test fired sought develop space program cooperation space australia united_states european countries successful building international cooperation project cancelled favour launched satellite launched british launch vehicle involved negotiations leading establishment anglo australian siding spring mountain new south wales received united_kingdom member deputy chairman governing board chairman death legacy long illness died home surrey named australian word area western_australia lived november survived wife daughter named london medal prize jointly awarded papers london archives
Harrie Massey