Ann Catherine Horton ( Davies, 7 April 1894 – 15 July 1967) was a British physicist and academic who was the first woman to be appointed to the lecturing staff of the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

Early life

Ann Catherine Davies was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 7 April 1894, the daughter of merchant tailor Robert Davies. She studied Physics at

Royal Holloway College Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a member institution of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departmen ...

, where she received her bachelor in science in 1915 followed by her master's in science and DSc.

Career

Horton was employed as an Assistant Lecturer in Physics at Holloway while she conducted research for her doctorate, and was later promoted to Staff Lecturer. Her research chiefly concerned radiation from and ionization potentials of the rare gases, and contributed to the verification of

Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (, ; ; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and old quantum theory, quantum theory, for which he received the No ...

's theory of stationary states. While a research student, she began working together with Frank Horton. The two collaborated on experiments measuring characteristic X-rays. In 1921, their work called into question the conclusions drawn from the

Franck–Hertz experiment The Franck–Hertz experiment was the first electrical measurement to clearly show the quantum nature of atoms. It was presented on April 24, 1914, to the German Physical Society in a paper by James Franck and Gustav Hertz. Franck and Hertz h ...

, leading to an exchange of correspondence with

James Franck James Franck (; 26 August 1882 – 21 May 1964) was a German-American physicist who received the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gustav Hertz "for their discovery of the laws governing the impact of an electron upon an atom". He completed hi ...

that eventually concluded with all participants agreeing that the Franck–Hertz results had been correct. In 1922 she received the

Ellen Richards Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards ( Swallow; December 3, 1842 – March 30, 1911) was an American industrial and safety engineer, environmental chemist, and university faculty member in the United States during the 19th century. Her pioneeri ...

Research Grant from the Association to Aid Scientific Research by Women. From 1935 she was a fellow and lecturer in physics at

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, and a university lecturer in physics at the

. From this point she carried out no further original research, but focused on teaching and administration. She was vice-principal of Newnham from 1936 to 1946, a member of the trustees of

Homerton College, Cambridge Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the col ...

, and a member of the Council of

New Hall New Hall may refer to: * New Hall, Fazakerley, a historic complex that was originally a model village, in Liverpool, England * New Hall, Woodford, a 17th-century cottage in Woodford, Greater Manchester, England * New Hall moated site, a scheduled ...

. She married her collaborator Frank Horton in 1939.

Later life and legacy

She died in Cambridge on 15 July 1967. In 1968, Cambridge founded the Ann Horton Visiting Research Fellowship at her bequest.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horton, Ann Catherine 1894 births 1965 deaths British women physicists 20th-century British physicists 20th-century British women scientists