40 Facts About Patrick Blackett

Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Baron Blackett was an English physicist who received the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Patrick Blackett made major contributions to the Allied war effort in World War II, advising on military strategy and developing operational research.

Patrick Blackett advocated for restraints on the military use of atomic energy.

Patrick Blackett was a proponent for Third World development and for reducing the gap between rich and poor.

The Patrick Blackett family lived successively at Kensington, Kenley, Woking and Guildford, Surrey, where Patrick Blackett went to preparatory school.

When he interviewed for entrance to the Royal Naval College, Osborne, Isle of Wight, Charles Rolls had just completed his cross-channel flight the previous day and Patrick Blackett, who had tracked the flight on his crystal set, was able to expound lengthily on the subject.

Patrick Blackett was accepted and spent two years there before moving on to Dartmouth where he was "usually head of his class".

Patrick Blackett was transferred to the Cape Verde Islands on HMS Carnarvon and was present at the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

Patrick Blackett was then transferred to HMS Barham and saw much action at the Battle of Jutland.

Patrick Blackett was concerned by the poor quality of British gunnery in the Harwich Force when compared with that of the enemy.

Patrick Blackett started to read science textbooks as he planned his post-war career.

Patrick Blackett was impressed by the prestigious Cavendish Laboratory, and left the Navy to study mathematics and physics at Cambridge.

Patrick Blackett asked Blackett to use a cloud chamber to find visible tracks of this disintegration, and by 1925, Blackett had taken 23,000 photographs showing 415,000 tracks of ionized particles.

Patrick Blackett thus became the first person to deliberately transmute one element into another.

Patrick Blackett did not eat the apple and no punitive action was taken against Oppenheimer for the attempted poisoning.

In 1932, Patrick Blackett partnered with Giuseppe Occhialini to devise a system of Geiger counters which took photographs only when a cosmic ray particle traversed the chamber.

In 1947, Patrick Blackett introduced a theory to account for the Earth's magnetic field as a function of its rotation, with the hope that it would unify both the electromagnetic force and the force of gravity.

Patrick Blackett spent a number of years developing high-quality magnetometers to test his theory, but eventually found it to be without merit.

Patrick Blackett was awarded the 1948 Nobel Prize in Physics for his investigation of cosmic rays using his invention of the counter-controlled cloud chamber.

The Physics department building of Imperial College, the Patrick Blackett Laboratory, is named in his honour.

In 1957, Patrick Blackett gave the presidential address to the British Association meeting in Dublin In 1965, he delivered the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland.

In 1935, Patrick Blackett was invited to join the Aeronautical Research Committee chaired by Sir Henry Tizard.

At the beginning of World War II, Patrick Blackett served on various committees and spent time at the Royal Aircraft Establishment Farnborough, where he made a major contribution to the design of the Mark XIV bomb sight, which allowed bombs to be released without a level bombing run beforehand.

Patrick Blackett disagreed with the committee's conclusion that Britain could produce an atomic bomb by 1943, and he recommended that the project should be discussed with the Americans.

Patrick Blackett was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1933 and awarded its Royal Medal in 1940.

Patrick Blackett's studies had shown the ineffectiveness of the area bombing strategies, as opposed to the importance of fighting off the German U-boats, which were heavily affecting the war effort with their sinkings of merchant ships.

Patrick Blackett later identified himself as a socialist, and often campaigned on behalf of the Labour Party.

Patrick Blackett's internationalism found expression in his strong support for India.

Patrick Blackett was convinced that their problems could be overcome by applying science and technology.

Patrick Blackett used his prestige in the scientific community to try to persuade fellow scientists that one of their first duties should be to help ensure a decent life for all mankind.

Patrick Blackett did not enter open politics, but worked for a year as a civil servant.

Patrick Blackett remained deputy chairman of the Minister's Advisory Council throughout the administration's life, and was personal scientific adviser to the Minister.

Patrick Blackett had refused many honours, in the manner of a radical of the twenties, but accepted appointment as Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in the 1965 Birthday Honours, and was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1967.

Patrick Blackett was created a life peer on 27 January 1969 as Baron Blackett, of Chelsea in Greater London.

Patrick Blackett was made President of the Royal Society in 1965.

The Patrick Blackett Laboratory is part of Imperial College Faculty of Natural Sciences and has housed the Physics Department since its completion in 1961.

Patrick Blackett's ashes are buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery, London.

In 2016, the house that Patrick Blackett lived in from 1953 to 1969 received an English Heritage blue plaque.

In July 2022, the Royal Navy named an experimental ship after Blackett in honour of his service to the Royal Navy and to the country; "XV Patrick Blackett" will be used by the Royal Navy to experiment with autonomous technologies.

Patrick Blackett was portrayed by James D'Arcy in the 2023 film Oppenheimer.