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Owen Willans Richardson, 1879-1959

Wm Wilson

1960, 206-215, published 1 February51960 Biogr. Mems Fell. R. Soc.

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OWEN WILLANS RICHARDSON

1879-1959

Owen Willans R ichardson, one of the most outstanding men of science of this century, was born on 26 April 1879 at Dewsbury, Yorkshire; the son of Josiah H. Richardson and Charlotte M. Richardson. Most of his early childhood was spent at the little mining village of Askern near Doncaster and both his parents are buried there. He was a very precocious boy and gained so many scholarships and exhibitions that his education cost his parents nothing at all.

He was a pupil at Batley Grammar School till about 1897 and there is an entry at the school, in the Register kept for the ‘Department of Science and Art’, which, as many older men will remember, used to hold examinations all over England: ‘O. W. Richardson, age last birthday 13, date of entering school September ’91. Address Victoria Crescent, Dewsbury. Father’s occupation: Traveller. Signed O. Richardson.’

According to the present Headmaster, Mr F. W. Scott, Batley Grammar School was founded in 1612 and built beside the Parish Church, but moved up the hill in 1878 to new buildings. It has produced many learned men and scientists; but like many other schools (or indeed most schools) it suffered severely from the tyranny of examinations, that bane of education in England.

From Batley Grammar School young Richardson proceeded, with a scholarship, to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1897. In the Natural Sciences Tripos Pt. I he obtained a 1st class with the highest possible distinction in physics, chemistry and botany and he once said that it was a toss-up whether he should proceed further with physics or with botany. In this he seems to have resembled the great mathematician, J . W. Nicholson (later one of his colleagues at King’s College, London) whose biological interests were very strong in his youth. Richardson obtained a 1st Class in the Natural Sciences Tripos Pt. II and the B.A. degree in 1900. He became a Fellow of Trinity in 1902 (Honorary Fellow in 1940), Clerk Maxwell scholar and D.Sc.(London) in 1904.

At Cambridge he was one of a remarkable group of young men working at the Cavendish Laboratory under the inspiring leadership of J . J. Thomson (later Sir Joseph Thomson, and President of the Royal Society). Among those who were his contemporaries, or who were at Cambridge about that time were: C. T. R. Wilson, of Cloud Chamber fame, who is still happily with us, and Harold A. Wilson. The former would be about 10 years his senior and the latter about 5 years. Among others who were in Cambridge

207



during or near Richardson’s time were; the great Rutherford, Soddy, Aston, and J. W. Nicholson.

The short period which began about 1887 and continued till about 1930 was one of the greatest in the history of physical and cosmological science. The famous experiment of Michelson and Morley was carried out in 1887— though Michelson himself had made a tentative effort at such an experiment as early as 1879—but its profound significance was not grasped till Albert Einstein began to develop his relativity theory (in 1905 and the following years). Max Planck’s wonderful innovation of the elementary quantum of action came in December 1900.

Richardson’s earliest work on the emission of electricity from hot bodies— he gave the name thermionics to the subject—was carried out on platinum since it had a higher melting point (1755 °C) than anything else at his disposal at that time. Later on ductile tungsten became available and enabled him to study the phenomenon of emission of electricity from hot bodies at much higher temperatures. J. J . Thomson showed in 1899 that the discharge from an incandescent carbon filament in a vacuum tube was carried by negative electrons, and in 1900 McClelland showed that the currents from a negatively charged platinum wire were influenced very little, if at all, by changes in the nature and pressure of the surrounding gas, if the pressure were fairly low. In 1901 Richardson was able to show that each unit area of a platinum surface emitted a definite number of electrons per unit time. He found that this number increased very rapidly with temperature and that the maximum current, i, at any Kelvin work scale temperature, T, was governed by the now well-known law

— Wi= A Tie 17 (1)

In this equation k is the so-called Boltzmann’s constant—actually first explicitly introduced by Planck—and A and w are constants of the material. Later he was able to show that the same conclusions followed for other materials, e.g. sodium and carbon, and that the differences of the work functions of different materials should be equal to their contact potential differences. The main idea lying behind formula (1), as Richardson has said, is that of an electron gas evaporating from a hot source. Somewhat later certain thermodynamical considerations led to the conclusion that the formula

_ U)i—A T 2ckT (2)

is more correct than (1); but the exponential factor in these formulae is so powerful that it is hardly possible to distinguish between them experimentally. It should be noted that equation (2) is not affected by later views (Fermi— Dirac) about the character of the electron gas the metal.

In 1906 Richardson was appointed Professor of Physics at Princeton University, U.S.A. Here, in collaboration with F. C. Brown, he showed that

208 Biographical Memoirs



Owen Willans Richardson 209

the distribution of velocities among the electrons emitted by a hot body was the familiar Maxwellian one. The constant w, as Richardson has pointed out, must, if Sommerfeld’s theory of conduction be accepted, be identified with the difference between the work required to remove a free electron, at rest inside the metal, to a point outside and the maximum energy of the internal electrons.

Among Richardson’s pupils at Princeton were the brothers A. H. and K. T. Compton. The former discovered the well-known Compton effect, namely that scattered X-rays have a slightly longer wave-length than the primary rays. Indeed, some time before Compton’s discovery, Barkla had noticed that the scattered rays were more absorbable by his aluminium plates than were the primary rays. Richardson, in collaboration with K. T. Compton, verified Einstein’s photo-electric law. This was done independently and about the same time by A. L. Hughes, then working, I believe, with H. A. Wilson in Texas.

Among Richardson’s colleagues at Princeton were the well-known physicist C. J. Davisson and the mathematician O. Veblen, both of whom married sisters of Richardson.

In 1914 Richardson was appointed to the Wheatstone Chair of Physics at King’s College, London. Here he carried out work on photo-electricity with F. J. Rogers and spectroscopic researches with C. B. Bazzoni. He also carried out experiments on the spectra of hydrogen and helium and compared the results with Bohr’s theory. He predicted the gyromagnetic effect which led to the discovery of the gyromagnetic anomaly which is due to the fact that the ratio magnetic moment/angular momentum of an electron orbit is elm0c instead of the classical e/2m0c,where e and m0 are respectively the charge and the rest mass of the electron. It was this which led Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit to ascribe to the electron the spin momentum hj^n (1925).

In 1924 Richardson was appointed Yarrow Research Professor of the Royal Society and from then onwards he was able to devote all his time to research. He continued to be interested in the triplet fine structure of H2 on which he had published high resolution data. His last paper was published so recently as 1953, long after his retirement (1944) from the Yarrow professorship. He endeavoured to apply wave mechanics to calculate the cold emission of electrons from metals under intense fields and he collaborated with Dr H. T. Flint in a paper dealing with the possibility of a least proper time. He studied the soft-X-ray spectra of a number of metals with the late F. C. Chalklin (earlier one of his students at King’s College, London) and Mrs Chalklin. He also collaborated with W. E. Williams and J. Drinkwater on the wave numbers and fine structures of Ha and Da lines to test Dirac’s theory.

In his earliest King’s College days he lived in Cannon Place, Hampstead and I remember Bohr staying there as a guest. Later Richardson moved to 45 Haverstock Hill, a much more roomy house with a fine garden. He filled his house with valuable and beautiful things, especially pictures. He had many distinguished visitors, one of them being the great Arnold Sommerfeld.



210Among other memories of the Haverstock Hill house is that of a dinner at

which the great Hendrik Antoon Lorentz and his wife were the principal guests. At one end of the table was that delightful and gracious lady, Richardson’s first wife, Lilian, a sister of H. A. Wilson, who himself had lived in Hampstead while Wheatstone Professor at King’s College.

Richardson loved to have a cottage in the country. The earliest I remember was at a place called Forest Green, I think, near Holmbury St Mary and on the Surrey-Sussex border. Here he had also several acres of woodland and some ancient cottages. Later he had a cottage at Graffham, just where the Roman Road descends from the South Downs—not far from Petworth, and he and his family often went to swim in a pleasant pool in that neighbourhood. He liked long country rambles and I remember a long tramp with him along the South Downs from Lewes westwards, ending eventually at Fittleworth. This was in September 1921.

His wife Lilian died during the King’s College period and he married again in 1948. His second wife, who survives him, was named Rupp and is a distinguished scientist, being one of those who had observed what was then regarded as an extraordinary phenomenon, namely the diffraction of electrons.

Richardson was knighted in 1939. He was President of the Physical Society from 1926 to 1928 and served as its foreign secretary for many years. Honorary degrees were conferred on him by St Andrews and London (LL.D.) and by Leeds (D.Sc.). He was also a Fellow of King’s College, London.

In his later years Richardson lived in a pleasant house called Chandos Lodge, near Alton in Hampshire, and for some time had a farm in that neighbourhood. He was a remarkable blend of an excellent business man and a man of science. He leaves two sons and a daughter. The elder son, Harold, is Hildred Carlile Professor of Physics in the University of London (Bedford College) and the younger, Jack, is a distinguished medical man and psychiatrist in Grantham.

Richardson was a genial, pleasant and very helpful colleague and many of us, his colleagues and students, will always feel indebted to him.

It is a duty and a pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to his sons and others without whose help I could not have written this memoir. I am particularly indebted to Dr E. W. Forster’s obituary notice in Nature last April.

W m W ilson

Biographical Memoirs

ADDENDUMBiog. Mem. R.S. Vol. 5, p. 210. (Owen Willans Richardson)

I greatly regret having omitted the very important fact that Richardson7 l aT v d,ed *he N° l d Pr'Ze in ’929' His Nobel Prize Lecture, delivered at Stockhdm on 12 December, 1929, dealt with ‘Thermionic phenomena and the laws which govern them.5

W m W ilson



Owen WillansRichardson 21 I

BIBLIOGRAPHYPapers

1901. On an attempt to detect radiation from the surface of wires carrying alternating currents of high frequency. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 11, 168-178.

1901. On the negative radiation from hot platinum. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 11, 286-295.1902. (With H. O. J ones.) Note on a method for determining the concentration of hydrogen

ions in solution. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 11, 337.1902. (With H. O. J ones.) The decomposition o f oxalacetic acid phenyl hydrazone in

aqueous and acid solutions, etc. J. Chem. Soc. 81, 1140-1158.1902. (With H. O. J ones.) The dissociation constants o f oxalacetic acid and its phenyl

hydrazone. J. Chem. Soc. 81, 1158-1160.1903. The theory of the rate of recombination of ions in gases. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 12,

144-152.1903. (With H. O. J ones.) Irreversible simultaneous linear reactions. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc.

12, 215-217.1904. The solubility and diffusion in solution of dissociated gases. Phil. Mag. 7, 266-274.1903. The electrical conductivity imparted to a vacuum by hot conductors. Phil Trans. A,

201, 497-549.1903. On the positive ionisation produced by hot platinum in air at low pressures. Proc.

Phys. Soc. 18, 520-542.1904. Radioactivity and the law of conservation of mass. Nature, Lond. 69, 606.1904. (With J. N icol and T. P a r n ell .) Diffusion of hydrogen through hot platinum.

Phil. Mag. 8, 1-29.1904. Ueber die einem Vacuum durch erhitzte Leiter erteilte Leitfahigkeit. Phys. £. 5, 6.1904. Effect of a luminous discharge on the ionization produced by hot platinum. Phil. Mag.

8, 400-410.1905. Note on the diffusion of hydrogen through palladium. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 13,

27-37.1905. Construction of electroscopes. Nature, Lond. 71, 274-276.1905. Structure of ions formed in gases at high pressure. Phil. Mag. 10, 177-179.1905. Discharge of electricity from hot platinum in phosphorous vapour. Phil. Mag. 9 ,

407-413.1905. Note on the positive leak from hot platinum in air at low pressures. Proc. Camb. Phil.

Soc. 13, 58-59.1905. Recombination of ions in gases. Phil. Mag. 10, 242-253.1906. Diurnal periodicity of ionisation in closed vessels. Nature, Lond. 73, 607.1906. Effect of hydrogen on the discharge of electricity from hot platinum. Proc. Camb. Phil.

Soc. 13, 192-193.1906. The ionisation produced by hot platinum in different gases. Phil. Trans. A, 207, 1-64;

Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 78, 192-196.1907. Structure of the ether. Nature, Lond. 76, 78.1907. The a-rays. Nature, Lond. 75, 223-224.1907. Displacement of spectral lines by pressure. Phil. Mag. 14, 557-578.1908. A mechanical effect accompanying magnetization. Phys. Rev. 26, 248-253.1908. The application of the ionization from hot bodies to thermometric work at high

temperatures. Phys. Rev. 27, 183-195.1908. (With F. C. Br o w n .) Kinetic energy of positive electrons emitted by hot bodies.

Phil. Mag. 16, 353-376.



1908. (With F. Soddy.) Wehnelt cathode in a high vacuum. Nature, Lond. 77, 197-198.1907. Specific charge of the ions emitted by hot bodies. Phil. Mag. 16, 740-767.1907. Kinetic energy of the ions emitted by hot bodies. Phil. Mag. 16, 890-916.1909. Thermionics. Phil. Mag. 17, 813-833.1909. Kinetic energy of the ions emitted by hot bodies. Phil. Mag. 18, 681-695.1909. Kinetic theory of matter. Phil. Mag. 18, 695-698.1910. (With H. L. Cooke.) Heat developed during absorption of electricity by metals.

Nature, Lond. 82, 278.1910. (With H. L. Cooke.) Heat developed during absorption of electricity by metals.

Phil. Mag. 20, 177-206.1910. Positive thermions from alkali salts. Phil. Mag. 20, 981-999.1910. (With E. R. H ulbirt.) Specific charge of the ions emitted by hot bodies. Phil. Mag.

20, 545-559.1910. (With H. L. Cooke.) Heat liberated by the absorption of electrons. Phil. Mag. 21,

404-410.1912. Electron theory of matter. Phil. Mag. 23, 594-627.1913. Contact EMF and thermoelectricity. Phil. Mag. 23, 263-278.1911. Aggregates of electrons. P. Amer. Phil. Soc. 50, 347-365.1912. Photoelectricity and light quanta. Science, 36, 57-58.1911. Positive ionisation from hot salts. Phil. Mag. 22, 689-703.1911. (With R. C. Ditto.) Diffusion of neon through hot quartz. Phil. Mag. 22, 704-706.1912. Theory of photoelectric action. Phil. Mag. 24, 570-574.1913. Asymmetry of emission of secondary rays. Phil. Mag. 25, 144-150.1912. Electron theory of thermoelectricity. Phil. Mag. 24, 737-744.1913. (With H. L. Cooke.) Absorption of heat produced by emission of ions from hot

bodies. Phil. Mag. 25, 624-643.1913. Emission of electrons from tungsten at high temperatures—an experimental proof

that the electric current in metals is carried by electrons. Science, 38, 57-61; Phil. Mag. 26, 345-350; Phys. £. 14, 713-716.

1913. Electron theory of metallic conduction. Amer. Electro-chem. Soc. Trans. 21, 69-92.1914. Photoelectric and photo-chemical action. Phil. Mag. 27, 476-488.1913. Ions from hot salts. Phil. Mag. 26, 452-472.1914. The positive ions from hot metals. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 89, 507-524.1914. Origin of thermal ionisation from carbon. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 90, 174-179.1913. (With H. L. Cooke.) Absorption of heat produced by the emission of ions from hot

bodies. Phil. Mag. 26, 472-476.1913. (With K. T. Compton.) The photoelectric effect. Phil. Mag. 26, 549-567.1915. Metallic conduction. Phil. Mag. 30, 295-299.1915. Electrons and heat. (Discourse at Royal Institution.) Nature, Lond. 95, 467-470.1914. Electron theory and gas molecule distribution in field of force. Phil. Mag. 28, 633-647.1915. The influence of gases on the emission of electrons and ions from hot metals. Proc.

Roy. Soc. A, 91, 524-535.1915. (With J. R ogers.) The photoelectric effect. III. Phil. Mag. 29, 618-623.1916. Complete thermionic emission. Phil. Mag. 31, 149-155.1916. (With C. B. Bazzoni.) Experiments with electron currents in different gases. I—

Mercury vapour. Phil. Mag. 32, 426-440.1916. (With C. B. Bazzoni.) Excitation of helium spectra with the applied potential

difference. Nature, Lond. 98, 5.1916. (With C. Sheard.) Variation of the positive emission current from hot platinum.

Phil. Mag. 31, 497-505.1917. (With C. B. Bazzoni.) The limiting frequency in the spectra of helium, hydrogen and

mercury in the extreme ultra-violet. Phil. Mag. 34, 285-307.1918. The photoelectric action of X-rays. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 94, 269-280.1921. The problem of physics. Nature, Lond. 108, 372-376.




1922. Emission of electrons under the influence of chemical action. Phil. Trans. A, 222, 1-43.1922. (With G. B. Bazzoni.) Excitation of soft characteristic X-rays. Phil. Mag. 42, 1015-

1019.1922. (With F. S. R obertson .) Effect of gases on the contact difference of potential between

metals at different temperatures. Phil. Mag. 43, 162-174.1922. (With F. S. R obertson .) Contact difference o f potential and thermionic emission.

Phil. Mag. 43, 557-559.1922. (With L. S imons.) Note on gravitation; experimental test. Phil. Mag. 43, 138-145.1923. The magnitude of the gyromagnetic ratio. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 102, 538-540.1923. (With R. C h a u d h u r i.) Effect o f gases in facilitating the passage o f current from an

electron-emitting source in crossed electric and magnetic fields. Phil. Mag. 45, 337-352.

1923. The generalised relativistic quantum conditions. Phil. Mag. 46, 911-914.1924. Thermodynamics of electron emission. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 105, 387-405.1924. Electron emission from metals as a function of temperature. Phys. Rev. 23, 153-155.1924. Photoelectric and photochemical activity. Phil. Mag. 47, 975-976.1924. Thermionic emission from systems with multiple thresholds. Proc. Phys. Soc. 36, 383-398. 1924. (With T. T a n a k a .) The striking and breaking potentials for electron discharges in

hydrogen. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 106, 640-662.1924. (With T. T a n a k a .) A P, Q and R combination in the many-lined spectrum of

hydrogen. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 106, 663-678.1925. (With A. F. Y oung .) The thermionic work functions and photoelectric thresholds o f

the alkali metals. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 107, 377-410.1925. (With T . T a n a k a .) Regularities in the secondary spectrum of hydrogen. Proc. Roy.

Soc. A, 107, 602-623.1925. Structure in the secondary hydrogen spectrum. Parts I to III. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 108,

553-618; 109, 35-56; 109, 239-266.1926. Structure in the secondary hydrogen spectrum. Part IV. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 111,

714-753.1926. (With F. C. C ha lk lin .) The excitation of soft X-rays. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 110, 247-282.1926. (With A. S. E ddington , F. A. L indemann and J. F renk el .) Spinning electrons.

Nature, Lond. 117, 652-654.1927. Atomic theories. Proc. Phys. Soc. 39, 171-186.1926. Structure in the secondary hydrogen spectrum. Part V. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 113, 368-419.1927. Note on a connection between the visible and ultra-violet bands of hydrogen. Proc.

Roy. Soc. A, 114, 643-650.1927. (With M. Br o therton .) Electron emission under the influence o f chemical action

at high gas pressures, and some photoelectric experiments with liquid alloys. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 115, 20-41.

1927. (With F. S. R obertson .) Emission of soft X-rays by different elements. Proc. Roy. Soc. A , 115, 280-290.

1927. The hydrogen band spectra; new band systems in the violet. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 115, 528-548.

1927. Intensity distribution among the lines of certain bands in the spectrum of the hydrogenmolecule. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 116, 484-491.

1928. (With F. C. C ha lk lin .) Excitation of soft X-rays. Part II. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 119, 60-83.1928. Emission of secondary electrons and the excitation of soft X-rays. Proc. Roy. Soc. A,

119, 531-542.1928. (With H. T. F lin t .) Minimum proper time and its applications (1) to the number o f

chemical elements, (2) to some uncertainty relations. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 117, 637-649.1928. (With F. C. C h a lk lin .) Soft X-ray levels of iron, cobalt, nickel and copper.

Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 121, 218-236.1929. (With K. D as.) Spectrum of H2; bands analogous to the ortho-helium line spectrum.

Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 122, 688-718.

Owen Willans Richardson 213



1929. (With P. M. Davidson.) Spectrum of H2; bands analogous to the par-helium line spectrum. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 122, 54-80.

1929. (With P. M. D avidson.) Spectrum of H2; bands analogous to the par-helium line spectrum. Part II. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 123, 466-483.

1929. (With P. M. Davidson.) Spectrum of H2; bands analogous to the par-helium line spectrum. Parts III and IV. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 124, 50-88.

1929. (With F. S. R obertson.) Emission of soft X-rays by different elements at higher voltages. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 124, 188-195.

1929. (With K. Das.) Spectrum of H2; bands analogous to the ortho-helium line spectrum. Part II. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 125, 309-330.

1929. (With P. M. D avidson.) Energy functions of H2 molecules. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 125,23-50.

1930. Absorption spectrum of hydrogen and the many-lined spectrum. Proc. Roy. Soc. A,126, 487-510.

1930. Emission of secondary electrons and the excitation of soft X-rays. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 128, 63-74.

1930. (With U rsula A ndrewes.) Excitation of soft X-rays from single crystal surfaces and from polycrystalline surfaces of graphite and aluminium. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 128, 1-15.

1930. (With S. R. Rao.) Excitation of soft X-rays from some polycrystalline surfaces. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 128, 16-36.

1930. (With S. R. Rao.) Excitation of soft X-rays from single crystal face of nickel. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 128, 37-41.

1930. (With L. G. Grimmet.) Emission of electrons under the influence of chemical actionat lower pressures. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 130, 217-238.

1931. (With P. M. D avidson.) Spectrum of H2-bands ending on the 2p 3i7 levels. Proc. Roy.Soc. A, 131, 658-683.

1931. (With A. K. Denisoff.) Emission of electrons under the influence of chemical action. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 132, 22-50.

1933. (With P. M. D avidson.) Spectrum of H-bands ending on the 2p 377 levels. Part II. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 140, 25-58.

1933. (With P. M. D avidson and an appendix by Miss J. M arsden and W. M. Evans.) Spectrum of H2-bands ending on the 2p 377 levels. Part III. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 140, 40-62.

1933. (With P. M. Davidson.) Spectrum of H2, 3d 1A and 4dx levels. Proc. Roy. Soc. A,142, 63-76.

1934. (With A. K. D enisoff.) Emission of electrons under the influence of chemical action.Part II. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 144, 46-75.

1934. (With A. K. D enisoff.) Emission of electrons under the influence of chemical action. Part III. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 145, 18-51.

1934. (With A. K. D enisoff.) Emission of electrons under the influence of chemical action. Part IV. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 146, 524-565.

1934. (With T. B. Rymer.) Spectrums of H2.1 and II. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 147, 24-27; 251-292.1935. (With A. K. D enisoff.) Emission of electrons under the influence of chemical action.

Part V. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 148, 533-564.1935. (With A. K. D enisoff.) Emission of electrons under the influence of chemical action.

Part VI. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 150, 495-519.1937. Band systems ending on the lscr2sor *2* (XX^) state of H2. Part I. Proc. Roy. Soc. A,

160, 487-507.1938. New bands ending on the Iscr 2per state of H2. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 164, 316-345. 1938. Test of wave mechanics in molecular spectra and recent developments in the spectrum

of H2. N uovo Cimento, 15, 232-245.1940. (With J. W. D rinkwater and W. E. W illiams.) Determination of Rydberg constants

e/m, and fine structure of H a and Da with a reflexion echelon. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 174, 164-188.




Owen WillansRichardson1940. (With J. W. D rinkw ater and W. E. W illiams.) Determination of Rydberg constants,

tf/m, and fine structure of Ha and Da with a reflexion echelon (Corrigenda). Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 175, 345.

1943. (With M rs I. G rim pel.) The secondary electron emission from metals in the low- primary-energy region. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 182, 17-47.

1947. (With E. W. F oster .) The fine structure of the spectral lines of H : measurements with a reflexion echelon. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 189, 149-174.

1953. (With E. W. F oster .) The fine structure of the 4d 3^, 3Ilcd> 3/7( j transitionsof the FT2 spectrum. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 217, 433-450.

Books

1914. The electron theory of matter.1916. The emission of electricity from hot bodies. London: Longmans Green.1934. Molecular hydrogen and its spectrum. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.

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Owen Willans Richardson, 1879-1959 - Royal Societyrsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/roybiogmem/5/206.full.pdf · Owen Willans Richardson, 1879-1959 Wm Wilson ... if Sommerfeld’s