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#REDIRECT [[Ralph H. Fowler]]
{{Short description|British mathematical physicist (1889–1944)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix  = [[Sir]]
| name              = Ralph Fowler
| honorific_suffix  = {{post-nominals|size=100%|OBE|FRS}}
| image            = Ralph H. Fowler.jpg
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1889|01|17|df=yes}}
| birth_name        = Ralph Howard Fowler
| birth_place      = [[Roydon, Essex|Roydon]], [[England]], [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UKGBI]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1944|07|28|1889|01|17|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [[Trumpington]], England, UK
| education        = [[Winchester College]]
| alma_mater        = [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]
| known_for        = {{plainlist|
* [[Darwin–Fowler method]]
* [[Bernal–Fowler rules]]
* [[Field electron emission]]
* [[Zeroth law of thermodynamics]]
}}
| spouse            = {{Marriage|Eileen Rutherford|1921}}
| children          = 4, including [[Ruth Fowler Edwards|Ruth]]
| relatives        = {{Plain list|
* [[Ernest Rutherford]] (father-in-law)
* [[Robert Edwards (physiologist)|Robert Edwards]] (son-in-law)
* [[Mary Fowler (geophysicist)|Mary Fowler]] (granddaughter)
}}
| awards            = {{Plain list|
* [[Smith's Prize#Rayleigh Prize recipients|Rayleigh Prize]] (1913)
* [[Adams Prize]] (1924)
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1925)<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = Milne | first1 = E. A. | author-link = Edward Arthur Milne| title = Ralph Howard Fowler. 1889–1944 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1945.0005 | journal = [[Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 5 | issue = 14 | pages = 60–78 | year = 1945 | s2cid = 170967451 }}</ref>
* [[Royal Medal]] (1936)
}}
| fields            = {{Plain list|
* [[Statistical physics]]
* [[Thermodynamics]]
}}
| work_institutions = [[University of Cambridge]] (1919–44)
| academic_advisors = [[Archibald Vivian Hill]]
| doctoral_students = {{Plain list|
* [[John Lennard-Jones]] (1924)
* [[Paul Dirac]] (1926)
* [[Bertha Swirles]] (1929)<ref name=MGP>{{Cite web|title=Ralph Fowler - The Mathematics Genealogy Project|url=https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=18251|website=genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu|access-date=2025-07-26}}</ref>
* [[William McCrea (astronomer)|William McCrea]] (1930)
* [[Harrie Massey]] (1932)<ref name=MGP/>
* [[Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar|S. Chandrasekhar]] (1933)
* {{Nowrap|[[Daulat Singh Kothari]] (1933)}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Panchapakesan |first=N. |date=July 1994 |title=DS Kothari and Delhi University |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/N-Panchapakesan/publication/276326833_Professor_DS_Kothari_and_the_University_of_Delhi/links/5ae4232e458515760abe8c98/Professor-DS-Kothari-and-the-University-of-Delhi.pdf |journal=Defence Science Journal |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=199–202}}</ref>
* [[Homi J. Bhabha]] (1935)
* [[Maurice Pryce]] (1937)<ref name=MGP/>
}}
| notable_students  = {{Plain list|
* [[Charles Coulson]]<ref name=MGP/>
* [[Edward Arthur Milne]]
* [[Nevill Mott]]<ref name=MGP/>
}}
}}
 
'''Sir Ralph Howard Fowler''' (17 January 1889 – 28 July 1944) was a British [[mathematical physicist]].
 
== Biography ==
Ralph Howard Fowler was born on 17 January 1889 in [[Roydon, Essex|Roydon]], England, the son of Howard Fowler from [[Burnham-on-Sea]], and Frances Eva Dewhurst, the daughter of a cotton merchant from [[Manchester]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-33227|title=Fowler, Sir Ralph Howard (1889–1944), mathematical physicist and weapons researcher|last=Milne|first=E. A.|date=2004-09-23|editor-last=Yoshioka|editor-first=Alan|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/33227}}</ref>
 
After attending [[Winchester College]], Fowler won a scholarship to [[Trinity College, Cambridge]], where he studied mathematics and became a [[Wrangler (University of Cambridge)|Wrangler]] in Part II of the [[Mathematical Tripos]].
 
In [[World War I]], Fowler obtained a commission in the [[Royal Marines|Royal Marine Artillery]] and was seriously wounded in his shoulder in the [[Gallipoli campaign]]. The wound enabled his friend [[Archibald Vivian Hill|Archibald Hill]] to use his talents properly. As Hill's second in command he worked on anti-aircraft ballistics in the [[Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section]] of [[HMS Excellent (shore establishment)|HMS ''Excellent'']] on [[Whale Island, Hampshire|Whale Island]]. He made a major contribution on the [[aerodynamics]] of spinning shells. He was awarded the [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] in 1918.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Van der Kloot W | year = 2011 | title = Mirrors and Smoke: A. V. Hill, his Brigands, and the Science of Anti-aircraft Gunnery in World War I. | journal = Notes Rec. R. Soc. Lond. | volume = 65 | issue = 4 | pages = 393–410 | doi=10.1098/rsnr.2010.0090| pmid = 22332470 | doi-access = free }}</ref>
 
In 1919, Fowler returned to Trinity College, where he became College Lecturer in Mathematics the following year.
 
Fowler worked on [[thermodynamics]] and [[statistical mechanics]], bringing a new approach to physical chemistry. With [[Arthur Milne]], a comrade during the war, he wrote a seminal work on [[stellar spectra]], temperatures, and pressures. In 1925, he was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]].<ref name="frs"/> He became research supervisor to [[Paul Dirac]] and, in 1926, worked with him on the statistical mechanics of [[white dwarf]] stars.
 
In 1927, Fowler was one of the participants of the fifth [[Solvay Conference]] on Physics that took place at the International Solvay Institute for Physics in Belgium. The following year, he published (with [[Lothar Wolfgang Nordheim|Lothar Nordheim]]) a seminal paper that explained the physical phenomenon now known as [[field electron emission]], and helped to establish the validity of modern electron [[band theory]]. In 1931, he was the first to formulate and label the [[zeroth law of thermodynamics]].<ref name=Cengel>Y. Cengel, M. Boles, ''Thermodynamics – An Engineering Approach'' 5th ed.</ref> The following year, he was appointed [[John Humphrey Plummer Professor]] of Mathematical Physics in the [[Cavendish Laboratory]]. In 1933, he worked with [[John Bernal]] to develop a model for the structure of water and ice known as the [[ice rules]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bernal |first1=J. D. |last2=Fowler |first2=R. H. |title=A Theory of Water and Ionic Solution, with Particular Reference to Hydrogen and Hydroxyl Ions |journal=J. Chem. Phys. |date=1933 |volume=1 |issue=8 |page=513 |doi=10.1063/1.1749327 |bibcode=1933JChPh...1..515B |url=https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.1749327 |access-date=22 March 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
 
In 1939, when [[World War II]] began, he resumed his work with the Ordnance Board, despite poor health, and was chosen for scientific liaison with Canada and the United States. He knew America well, having visiting professorships at [[Princeton University]] and the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]]. For this liaison work, he was knighted in 1942 (see [[MAUD Committee]]). He returned to Britain later in the war and worked for the Ordnance Board and the Admiralty up until a few weeks before his death in 1944.
 
Fifteen Fellows of the Royal Society and three Nobel Laureates (Chandrasekhar, Dirac, and Mott) were supervised by Fowler between 1922 and 1939. In addition to Milne, he worked with [[Sir Arthur Eddington]], [[Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]], [[Paul Dirac]], [[Homi J. Bhabha]], and [[William McCrea (astronomer)|Sir William McCrea]]. It was Fowler who introduced Dirac to quantum theory in 1923. Fowler also put Dirac and [[Werner Heisenberg]] in touch with each other through [[Niels Bohr]]. At Cambridge, he supervised the doctoral studies of 64 students, including [[John Lennard-Jones]], [[Paul Dirac]], and [[Garrett Birkhoff]].
 
Fowler died on 28 July 1944 in [[Trumpington]] at the age of 55.
 
The [[Fowler Islands]] in [[Crystal Sound]] on the Antarctic Peninsula were named by the [[UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee]] in his honour.
 
== Personal life ==
Fowler was a keen amateur [[cricket]]er who played as a [[wicket-keeper]]. He played for [[Norfolk County Cricket Club|Norfolk]] in the [[Minor Counties Championship]] in 1908 and 1909.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/223/223516/223516.html|title=Player profile: Ralph Fowler|publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=19 June 2011}}</ref>
 
In 1921, Fowler married Eileen Mary (1901–1930), the only daughter of [[Ernest Rutherford]]. They had four children; two sons and two daughters. Eileen died after the birth of their last child, [[Ruth Fowler Edwards]], a geneticist and wife of  [[Robert Edwards (physiologist)|Robert G. (Bob) Edwards]], the "father" of [[in vitro fertilisation]] and 2010 [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] laureate. One of his grandchildren is [[Mary Fowler (geophysicist)|Mary Fowler]], a geophysicist and the sixth Master (2012–2020) of [[Darwin College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{cite web|title=New Master for Darwin|url=http://www.cam.ac.uk/news/new-master-for-darwin|publisher=University of Cambridge|access-date=17 August 2014|date=3 April 2012}}</ref>
 
== Selected publications ==
*{{cite book|title=Elementary differential geometry of plane curves|series=Cambridge tracts in mathematics and mathematical physics .. ;No. 20 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1920|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000382947}}<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review: ''The Elementary Differential Geometry of Plane Curves'' by R. H. Fowler|journal=Nature|date=13 May 1920|volume=105|issue=2637|pages=321–322|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951p01139820z;view=1up;seq=381|bibcode=1920Natur.105..321G|doi=10.1038/105321a0|hdl=2027/uc1.b4073882|s2cid=28495684|last1=g. b. |first1=M. |url-access=subscription}}</ref> {{cite book|title=Dover reprint|year=2005}}
*{{cite book|title=Statistical mechanics, the theory of the properties of matter in equilibrium; based on an essay awarded the Adams prize in the University of Cambridge, 1923–24|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1929}}<ref>{{cite journal|author=Bartky, Walter|author-link=Walter Bartky|title=Review: ''Statistical Mechanics'' by R. H. Fowler|journal=Astrophysical Journal|volume=70|year=1929|pages=194–197|bibcode=1929ApJ....70..194B|doi=10.1086/143216|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Stone, M. H.|author-link=Marshall Harvey Stone|title=Review: ''Statistical Mechanics'' by R. H. Fowler|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1933|volume=39|issue=11|pages=850–853|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1933-39-11/S0002-9904-1933-05737-3/S0002-9904-1933-05737-3.pdf|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1933-05737-3|doi-access=free}}</ref> {{cite book|title=2nd edition|year=1936}}<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|volume=43|issue=9|year=1937|pages=601–602|title=Review: ''Statistical Mechanics'', 2nd edition by R. H. Fowler|author=Frank, N. H.|url=https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.bams/1183499983|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1937-06586-4|doi-access=free}}</ref>
*{{cite book|title=Passage of electrons through surfaces and surface films; being the thirty-first Robert Boyle lecture|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1929}}
*with [[Edward A. Guggenheim|E. A. Guggenheim]]: {{cite book|title=Statistical thermodynamics: a version of statistical mechanics for students of physics and chemistry|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1939}}<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review: ''Statistical Thermodynamics'' by R. H. Fowler and E. A. Guggenheim|author=Young, T. F.|journal=J. Chem. Educ.|year=1941|volume=18|issue=4|page=198|doi=10.1021/ed018p198.3|bibcode=1941JChEd..18..198Y|doi-access=free}}</ref>
 
== References ==
{{reflist}}
 
== External links ==
* [http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/rutherford-sir-ernest/1 Biography of Ernest Rutherford, with names of Ralph & Eileen's children] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111203225115/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/rutherford-sir-ernest/1 |date=3 December 2011 }}
* [http://trinitycollegechapel.com//about/memorials/brasses/fowler/ Ralph Howard Fowler] Trinity College Chapel
*{{Cite web|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Fowler.html|title=Ralph Fowler (Biography)|last=Durham|first=Ian T.|date=2001|website=Saint Anselm College, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive|access-date={{today}}}}
<!--*''Who was Who 1941-1950'' (London, A & C Black)-->
 
{{Authority control}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, Ralph}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1944 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Roydon, Essex]]
[[Category:People educated at Winchester College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Essex]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:Royal Marines officers]]
[[Category:Royal Marines personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:English cricketers]]
[[Category:Norfolk cricketers]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Wicket-keepers]]
[[Category:John Humphrey Plummer Professors]]
[[Category:20th-century English sportsmen]]
[[Category:20th-century British physicists]]

Latest revision as of 15:39, 21 December 2025

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Sir Ralph Howard Fowler (17 January 1889 – 28 July 1944) was a British mathematical physicist.

Biography

Ralph Howard Fowler was born on 17 January 1889 in Roydon, England, the son of Howard Fowler from Burnham-on-Sea, and Frances Eva Dewhurst, the daughter of a cotton merchant from Manchester.[1]

After attending Winchester College, Fowler won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics and became a Wrangler in Part II of the Mathematical Tripos.

In World War I, Fowler obtained a commission in the Royal Marine Artillery and was seriously wounded in his shoulder in the Gallipoli campaign. The wound enabled his friend Archibald Hill to use his talents properly. As Hill's second in command he worked on anti-aircraft ballistics in the Anti-Aircraft Experimental Section of HMS Excellent on Whale Island. He made a major contribution on the aerodynamics of spinning shells. He was awarded the OBE in 1918.[2]

In 1919, Fowler returned to Trinity College, where he became College Lecturer in Mathematics the following year.

Fowler worked on thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, bringing a new approach to physical chemistry. With Arthur Milne, a comrade during the war, he wrote a seminal work on stellar spectra, temperatures, and pressures. In 1925, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[3] He became research supervisor to Paul Dirac and, in 1926, worked with him on the statistical mechanics of white dwarf stars.

In 1927, Fowler was one of the participants of the fifth Solvay Conference on Physics that took place at the International Solvay Institute for Physics in Belgium. The following year, he published (with Lothar Nordheim) a seminal paper that explained the physical phenomenon now known as field electron emission, and helped to establish the validity of modern electron band theory. In 1931, he was the first to formulate and label the zeroth law of thermodynamics.[4] The following year, he was appointed John Humphrey Plummer Professor of Mathematical Physics in the Cavendish Laboratory. In 1933, he worked with John Bernal to develop a model for the structure of water and ice known as the ice rules.[5]

In 1939, when World War II began, he resumed his work with the Ordnance Board, despite poor health, and was chosen for scientific liaison with Canada and the United States. He knew America well, having visiting professorships at Princeton University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. For this liaison work, he was knighted in 1942 (see MAUD Committee). He returned to Britain later in the war and worked for the Ordnance Board and the Admiralty up until a few weeks before his death in 1944.

Fifteen Fellows of the Royal Society and three Nobel Laureates (Chandrasekhar, Dirac, and Mott) were supervised by Fowler between 1922 and 1939. In addition to Milne, he worked with Sir Arthur Eddington, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Paul Dirac, Homi J. Bhabha, and Sir William McCrea. It was Fowler who introduced Dirac to quantum theory in 1923. Fowler also put Dirac and Werner Heisenberg in touch with each other through Niels Bohr. At Cambridge, he supervised the doctoral studies of 64 students, including John Lennard-Jones, Paul Dirac, and Garrett Birkhoff.

Fowler died on 28 July 1944 in Trumpington at the age of 55.

The Fowler Islands in Crystal Sound on the Antarctic Peninsula were named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in his honour.

Personal life

Fowler was a keen amateur cricketer who played as a wicket-keeper. He played for Norfolk in the Minor Counties Championship in 1908 and 1909.[6]

In 1921, Fowler married Eileen Mary (1901–1930), the only daughter of Ernest Rutherford. They had four children; two sons and two daughters. Eileen died after the birth of their last child, Ruth Fowler Edwards, a geneticist and wife of Robert G. (Bob) Edwards, the "father" of in vitro fertilisation and 2010 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. One of his grandchildren is Mary Fowler, a geophysicist and the sixth Master (2012–2020) of Darwin College, Cambridge.[7]

Selected publications

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  • with E. A. Guggenheim: Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".[12]

References

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  4. ↑ Y. Cengel, M. Boles, Thermodynamics – An Engineering Approach 5th ed.
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".

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External links

Template:Authority control

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