World of Scientific Discovery on John William (Lord Rayleigh) Strutt
While born into a wealthy, titled family, Rayleigh did not indulge in the hedonistic lifestyle of England's landed gentry. In fact, many of his friends and relatives disapproved of his scientific pursuits. Strutt, better known as Lord Rayleigh, took his degree from Cambridge University in mathematics, but his scientific career, which he pursued almost until his dying day, extended into the fields of physics and chemistry. Today he is remembered mainly for discovering argon with Sir William Ramsay and for explaining wave motion, such as sound and light wave behavior.
Most young men of Rayleigh's position toured Europe after graduating from university. Instead, Rayleigh went to America, which was then just recovering from the Civil War. When he returned to England, he set up a laboratory on the family estate, where he would eventually conduct most of his experimental studies. Early on, Rayleigh learned to get along with the simplest of scientific equipment, from which he was able to obtain extremely accurate results.
Shortly after his marriage at the age of 29, Rayleigh was stricken with rheumatic fever. To recuperate, he took a cruise on the Nile River in Egypt. During this trip, he began writing his monumental text on the theory of sound, a work that reflects Rayleigh's great interest in wave motion of all types. Earlier, in the 1860s and 1870s, Rayleigh had published some theoretical work on sound waves, including a theory of acoustic resonance that extended Hermann von Helmholtz's research and established Rayleigh's reputation.
Rayleigh also explored the nature of light waves, and in doing so explained why the sky is blue. He developed a mathematical equation that accounts for the way light waves of different lengths are scattered by minute particles. This work confirmed earlier opinions that dust in the atmosphere scatters the Sun's light in a certain way, making the sky appear blue to the human eye.
Upon returning from Egypt, Rayleigh inherited his title and estate and began his experimental work in earnest, concentrating first on optical problems such as resolution. He went on to explore the capabilities of optical instruments such as the spectroscope, which was then becoming a critical tool for observing light waves from the Sun and from newly discovered elements.
Although Rayleigh was content to work at his home, he accepted the position of Cavendish Professor at Cambridge University, due to the fact that revenue from his estate had declined as the result of a general agricultural depression. He took up the post in 1879 and remained for five years, during which he initiated courses in experimental physics that became popular with Cambridge students and influenced curricula at other universities. He also established a research program at the Cavendish Laboratory to redefine electrical standards for resistance, current, and potential, which involved meticulously measuring their units (ohm, ampere, and volt). During this time, Rayleigh conducted extensive, extremely accurate measurements of the density of gases. In 1882, he was able to show that the ratio of the atomic mass of oxygen to that of hydrogen was not precisely 16:1, as had been thought, but 15.882:1.
After leaving Cambridge in 1884, Rayleigh restricted his teaching work and conducted most of his research at his home laboratory. One of the curiosities Rayleigh had noted earlier was that nitrogen derived from air was always slightly heavier than nitrogen extracted from chemical compounds, whereas oxygen always had exactly the same density. Readdressing this problem, Rayleigh ruled out various sources of contamination. Eventually, he became so frustrated that he published his question in a scientific journal, and the challenge was taken up by Sir William Ramsay. The collaboration between them led to the discovery of argon in 1894 and, ultimately, to the discovery of a whole family of gases no scientist had imagined before then. As a result, Rayleigh was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1904, the same year Ramsay received it in chemistry. Rayleigh gave his cash award to Cambridge.
Even though this honor lay in the field of chemistry, Rayleigh's more impressive if less popular accomplishments were in the realm of physics, especially wave motion. In addition to his light-scattering equation, Rayleigh identified a type of earthquake wave that today bears his name. The acoustic research he initiated was later applied to problems of filtration and scattering of sound. Rayleigh also called attention to a generally overlooked kinetic theory of gases, and he further developed an electromagnetic theory of light.
Despite Rayleigh's training and expertise in classical (Newtonian) physics, he felt compelled to keep up with the latest developments in quantum physics and the theory of relativity--areas that were just being opened up by Max Planck and Albert Einstein. Around the turn of the century, Rayleigh became intrigued with psychic phenomena, as did other scientists of his day, but Rayleigh remained dedicated to research and education throughout his life, publishing numerous papers and serving as president of Britain's Royal Society and chancellor of Cambridge University.
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