Mark Oliphant: Radar & Atomic Energy

Mark Oliphant

Australian physicist, nuclear physicist, and science administrator. He studied under Ernest Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, leaving remarkable achievements in the study of helium-3 and tritium, experimental research on nuclear fusion reactions, and the development of particle accelerators. During World War II, he was involved in microwave radar development and atomic bomb research, cooperating with the British nuclear weapons development program and the Manhattan Project. After the war, he turned to a stance critical of nuclear weapons, returned to the Australian National University in 1950 to found the Research School of Physical Sciences, and served as the founding president of the Australian Academy of Science. From 1971 to 1976, he served as Governor of South Australia.

Timeline

Category
Element

Year	Mark Oliphant
1901	Birth of Mark Oliphant (Period: October 8, 1901, Location: Adelaide (Kent Town), South Australia, Australia)
1919	Start of Physics Research at the University of Adelaide (Age: 17 years old, Period: 1919–1923, Location: Adelaide, South Australia)
1925	Marriage to Rosa Wilbraham (Age: 23 years old, Period: May 23, 1925, Location: St Peter's Anglican Church, Glenelg, South Australia) Marriage (Mark Oliphant, Rosa Louise Wilbraham, Age: 23 years old, Period: May 23, 1925, Location: St Peter's Anglican Church, Glenelg, South Australia)
1927	Transfer to the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge (Age: 25 years old, Period: 1927, Location: Cambridge, England)
1932	Construction of Particle Accelerators (Age: 30 years old, Period: 1932, Location: Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge)
1933	Discovery of Helium-3 and Tritium (Age: 31 years old, Period: 1933, Location: Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, England) Nuclear Fusion Research (Age: 31 years old, Period: 1933–1935, Location: Cambridge, England)
1937	Appointment as Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham (Age: 35 years old, Period: 1937, Location: Birmingham, England)
1939	World War II (Age: 37 years old, Period: 1939–1945, Location: UK, France, North Africa, Mediterranean, Atlantic, etc.) Microwave Radar Development (Age: 37 years old, Period: 1939–1941, Location: University of Birmingham, England) Microwave Radar Research (Age: 37 years old, Period: 1939–1941, Location: University of Birmingham, England)
1943	Dispatch of British Scientists to the Manhattan Project (Age: 41 years old, Period: 1943–1945, Location: United States, particularly Berkeley, California; Oak Ridge, Tennessee)
1945	Promotion of Proton Synchrotron Construction at the University of Birmingham (Age: 43 years old, Period: 1945–1950, Location: Birmingham, England) Participation in Nuclear Abolition and Peace Movements (Age: 43 years old, Period: 1945–1990s, Location: Australia and international activities) Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Shift to Nuclear Weapons (Age: 43 years old, Period: August 1945, Location: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan)
1950	Transfer to the Australian National University (Age: 48 years old, Period: 1950, Location: Canberra, Australia) Research Activities and Science Administration at the Australian National University (Age: 48 years old, Period: 1950s–1960s, Location: Canberra, Australia)
1954	Establishment of the Australian Academy of Science (Age: 52 years old, Period: 1954, Location: Canberra, Australia)
1955	International Activities on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy (Age: 53 years old, Period: 1955–1958, Location: Geneva, Switzerland)
1957	Participation in the Pugwash Conferences (Age: 55 years old, Period: From 1957, Location: Canada and various countries)
1962	Retirement from the Australian National University (Mark Oliphant, Age: 60 years old, Period: 1962–1967, Location: Canberra, Australia)
1971	Appointment as Governor of South Australia (Mark Oliphant, Age: 70 years old, Period: December 1, 1971 – November 30, 1976, Location: Adelaide, South Australia)
1978	South Australian "Salisbury Affair" (Age: 76 years old, Period: 1978, Location: Adelaide, South Australia)
2000	Death of Mark Oliphant (Age: 98 years old, Period: July 14, 2000)

Map

Category
Element

Europe World

Group	List
British Politics	David Lloyd George Winston Churchill Stanley Baldwin Neville Chamberlain Clement Attlee Anthony Eden Edward Wood Ernest Bevin
French Politics	Georges Clemenceau Charles de Gaulle Paul Reynaud Édouard Daladier Léon Blum Philippe Pétain Maxime Weygand Maurice Gamelin
Jewish relief	Anne Frank Etty Hillesum Edith Stein Raoul Wallenberg Aristides de Sousa Mendes Varian Fry Nicholas Winton Chiune Sugihara
Nuclear Science	Lise Meitner James Chadwick John Cockcroft Ernest Walton Patrick Blackett Mark Oliphant Otto Hahn Otto Robert Frisch

People Timeline

Mark Oliphant: Radar & Atomic Energy

Mark Oliphant

Timeline

Map

Related Links

Other Languages

Comments

About

Other Languages