Gwyn Owain Jones (29 March 1917 – 3 July 2006) was a Welsh physicist and academic, who moved from being a professor at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

to become director of the

National Museum of Wales National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

Life

Jones was born in

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

on 29 March 1917. He was educated at Port Talbot County School and

Monmouth School Monmouth School was a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school, boarding and day school, day school) for boys in Monmouth, Wales. The school was founded in 1614 with a beques ...

before winning a Meyricke scholarship to

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...

to study physics. He graduated in 1939 and became a Research Fellow at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

, obtaining his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

on the physics of glass. (He published ''Glass'' in 1956.) He became a member of the secret British nuclear weapons research programme, code-name

Tube Alloys Tube Alloys was the research and development programme authorised by the United Kingdom, with participation from Canada, to develop nuclear weapons during the Second World War. Starting before the Manhattan Project in the United States, the Bri ...

, in 1942, moving back to Oxford in 1946 as a

Nuffield Foundation The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust established in 1943 by William Morris, Lord Nuffield, the founder of Morris Motors Ltd. It aims to improve social well-being by funding research and innovation projects in education and social pol ...

Research Fellow at the

Clarendon Laboratory The Clarendon Laboratory, located on Parks Road within the Science Area in Oxford, England (not to be confused with the Clarendon Building, also in Oxford), is part of the Department of Physics at Oxford University. It houses the atomic and la ...

before becoming Reader in Experimental Physics (1949) and then Professor of Physics (1953) at

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

in the

. As a physicist, Jones had a particular interest in work at very low temperatures (close to

absolute zero Absolute zero is the lowest possible temperature, a state at which a system's internal energy, and in ideal cases entropy, reach their minimum values. The absolute zero is defined as 0 K on the Kelvin scale, equivalent to −273.15 ° ...

). His department in London was one of the few places where experiments could be carried out within a couple of degrees of absolute zero, using

helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...

as a refrigerant. Jones designed some equipment, made out of a motorcycle engine, to liquefy small amounts of helium for use by individual researchers, as opposed to the large-scale liquifiers used in other laboratories. Although it carried out research in various topics in physics, the department at Queen Mary College under Jones became known for its specialisation in solid-state and low temperature physics, with Jones himself publishing many scientific papers in the field. He caused some surprise by leaving academia and becoming director of the

in 1968, holding the post until 1977. He also served as chairman of the

Welsh Academy Literature Wales, formerly named the Academi, is the Welsh national literature promotion agency and society of writers, existing to promote Welsh-language literature, Welsh-language and Welsh literature in English, English-language literature i ...

, as a governor of the

Commonwealth Institute The Commonwealth Education Trust was a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pr ...

, a member of the Atomic Scientists Association (of which he was a co-founder) and a member of the

Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs The Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs is an international organization that brings together scholars and public figures to work toward reducing the danger of armed conflict and to seek solutions to global security threats. It was fo ...

. He was awarded a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1978 for his service to Wales. He died on 3 July 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Gwyn Owain 1917 births 2006 deaths Welsh scholars and academics Welsh physicists Welsh curators Directors of museums in the United Kingdom Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Sheffield Academics of the University of Sheffield Academics of the University of Oxford Academics of Queen Mary University of London Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Port Talbot County Boys' Grammar School People associated with Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales