Charles Alfred Taylor (1922–2002) was a British

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate ca ...

well known for his work in

crystallography Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics (condensed matter physics). The wo ...

and his efforts to promote

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

to young audiences.

Early life

Charles Taylor was born in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

in 1922.

Education

He began his

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathemati ...

at Queen Mary College (a constituent college of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

), but the college was subsequently evacuated to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He graduated in 1943 and after working for the Admiralty during the war, then worked as a lecturer and then a reader after completing his PhD.

Career

His first work was for the Admiralty designing

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

countermeasures, work that eventually took him to Harvard University in the United States until the end of the war. He then studied for a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

at the

University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...

, and was there from 1948 until 1965. He worked for a long time with

Henry Lipson Henry (Solomon) Lipson CBE FRS (11 March 1910 – 26 April 1991) was a British physicist. He was Professor of Physics, Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, 1954–77, then professor emeritus. Background Lipson was born in Liverpo ...

on the development of optical diffraction analogue methods. He was awarded a DSc in 1960. In 1965 he moved with his family to

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

to take up the position of Chair of Physics at University College Cardiff, where the main interest of the department was

X-ray crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angle ...

, in the same field as the work he did with Lipson in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. He was appointed to the post of Visiting Professor of Experimental Physics at the Royal Institution, a post he held until 1988. He also gave many other lectures to schoolchildren. In 1990 he lectured to thousands of children in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

as a follow up to his Christmas Lectures in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

the previous year.

Publications

Taylor was the author of a number of books, including 'The Art and Science of Lecture Demonstration'. Most notably, with Stephen Pople, he wrote the worldwide selling 'Oxford Children's Book of Science' (1994).

Lectures

As well as his work in research, Taylor also had very close links to the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

. He had always had a strong interest in

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

and its relationship with physics. In 1971 he lectured to schoolchildren for the

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825, missing 1939–1942 because of the Second World War. The lectures present sci ...

on ''Exploring Music'' covering physics and music. In 1989 he became only the third person since 1945 to deliver a second series of Christmas lectures, with the title 'Exploring Music'.

Honours

Taylor was awarded the Lawrence Bragg Medal by the Institute of Physics in 1983 for his outstanding and sustained contributions to physics education. In 1986 he was unanimously awarded the first ever

Michael Faraday Award The Royal Society of London Michael Faraday Prize is awarded for "excellence in communicating science to UK audiences". Named after Michael Faraday, the medal itself is made of silver gilt, and is accompanied by a purse of £2500. Background Th ...

by the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

for communicating science to public audiences. Altogether he gave over 150 lectures to schoolchildren at the Royal Institution, as well as presenting 8 Friday evening discourses there.

Family life

Taylor married in 1944 and had 3 children, 8 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren at the time of his death, in 2002 at the age of 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Charles A. 1922 births 2002 deaths British physicists Academics of Cardiff University Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Harvard University staff Alumni of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology Academics of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology Scientists from Kingston upon Hull Royal Navy personnel of World War II Admiralty personnel of World War II