John Ashworth Ratcliffe CB

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 ...

FRS (known to intimates as "Jar"; 12 December 1902 – 25 October 1987) was an influential British

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

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 cau ...

. (Several sources misspell his name as Radcliffe.)

Biography

Ratcliffe was born in

Bacup Bacup ( , ) is a town in the Rossendale Borough in Lancashire, England, in the South Pennines close to Lancashire's boundaries with West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester. The town is in the Rossendale Valley and the upper Irwell Valley, east ...

, the elder son of Harry Heys Ratcliffe, a partner in the stone quarrying firm of Henry Heys and Co., and Beatrice Alice. daughter of Richard Ashworth, founder of the firm of Mitchells, Ashworth, Stansfield and Co. He was educated at Bacup and Rawtenstall Secondary School (1912–1924),

Heversham Grammar School Heversham is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Westmorland and Furness unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census the parish had a population of 647, increasing at the ...

(1914–19) and

Giggleswick School Giggleswick School is a public school (English private boarding and day school) in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England. Early school In 1499, Giggleswick School was founded on half an acre of land leased by the Prior and Co ...

(1919–1921). In 1921 he entered

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (historically known as "Sussex College" and today referred to informally as "Sidney") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1 ...

and graduated in natural sciences with first-class honours in 1924. That year Ratcliffe started research on radio wave propagation under

Edward Appleton Sir Edward Victor Appleton (6 September 1892 – 21 April 1965) was an English atmospheric physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1947 "for his investigations of the physics of the upper atmosphere especially for the discovery o ...

. They and M A F Barnett developed methods to understand why ‘fading’ of radio signals from a fixed transmitter occurred during hour of darkness. In 1927 Ratcliffe was made head of a group in the Cavendish Laboratory known as the radio ionosphere research group. They studied how radio waves were reflected from the ionized layer in the upper atmosphere (previously called the Heaviside layer), and how the layer was formed. The work of the group and their publications are described at some length in the Royal Society’s biographical memoir. At the outbreak of war in 1939, dozens of radar stations formed a network, known as

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal early warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

(CH), covering the eastern and southern coasts of Britain. Physicists from the Cavendish and elsewhere were assigned to spend a month at one of the stations: Ratcliffe was sent to the one near Dover, but was soon made part of the

Telecommunications Research Establishment The Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) was the main United Kingdom research and development organisation for radio navigation, radar, infra-red detection for heat seeking missiles, and related work for the Royal Air Force (RAF) ...

(TRE) in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

where he was in charge of a new form of CH known as

Chain Home Low Chain Home Low (CHL) was the name of a British early warning radar system operated by the RAF during World War II. The name refers to CHL's ability to detect aircraft flying at altitudes below the capabilities of the original Chain Home (CH) r ...

(CHL), used to detect aircraft flying at altitudes below those detectable by CH stations. His work took him to various locations during the war:

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester. In the Unit ...

, Petersham, back to Dundee, and Malvern. At the end of the conflict, Ratcliffe was back at the Cavendish, which had been enlarged, enabling him to restart research with a larger group.

Martin Ryle Sir Martin Ryle (27 September 1918 – 14 October 1984) was an English radio astronomer who developed revolutionary radio telescope systems (see e.g. aperture synthesis) and used them for accurate location and imaging of weak radio sourc ...

and some others from TRE joined them and decided to follow up the discovery of radio emission from the sun. Ryle was in charge of a section concerned with

radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies Astronomical object, celestial objects using radio waves. It started in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observat ...

. In October 1960 Ratcliffe left Cambridge to take up the post of director of the

Radio Research Station The Radio Research Board was formed by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1920. The Radio Research Station (1924 – 31 August 1979) at Ditton Park, near Slough, Berkshire, England was the UK government research laboratory wh ...

Ditton Park Ditton Park, Ditton Manor House or Ditton Park House was the manor house and private feudal demesne of the lord of the Manor of Ditton, Slough, Ditton, and refers today to the rebuilt building and smaller grounds towards the edge of the town of ...

. He resigned in 1966.

Family

John Ratcliffe married Nora Disley at St Nicholas Church, Newchurch on 28 August 1930. They had two daughters, Margaret and Elizabeth. Elizabeth died in 1966, and Nora in 1977. Ratcliffe died at his home, 193 Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, on 25 October 1987.

Honours and awards

* 1946 Awarded

OBE 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 ...

* 1950 Ambrose Fleming Premium, IEE * 1951 Fellow of 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, re ...

* 1952 Duddell Premium, IEE * 1953 Fellow of the

Institute of Radio Engineers The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until December 31, 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical ...

, USA * 1953 The Holweck medal and prize (jointly with

Société Française de Physique The Société Française de Physique (SFP), or the French Physical Society, is the main professional society of French physicists. It was founded in 1873 by Joseph-Charles d'Almeida. History The French Physical Society is a state-approved non- ...

) * 1953 Invited to deliver the

Royal Institution Christmas Lecture 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. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including you ...

on ''The Uses of Radio Waves'' * 1958 President of the Physical Society * 1959 Awarded CBE * 1962 Honorary Fellow,

* 1965 Appointed CB * 1965 Vice President,

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

, USA * 1966 Royal Medal, the Royal Society * 1966 President, IEE * 1966 Faraday Medal * 1966 Honorary President,

International Union of Radio Science The International Union of Radio Science (abbreviated ''URSI'', after its French name, ) is one of 26 international scientific unions affiliated to the International Council for Science (ICSU). History and objectives URSI was officially cr ...

(URSI) * 1971 Guthrie Medal and Prize,

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

* 1972 Honorary Fellow, Institute of Physics * 1973 Fellow,

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...

* 1976 Gold Medal,

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

* 1977 Honorary Fellow, IEE * 1979 DSc honoris causa,

University of Kent at Canterbury A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

* 1981 Fellow,

Indian National Science Academy The Indian National Science Academy (INSA) is a national academy in New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three b ...

References

External links

Catalogue
of the Jack Ratcliffe papers at th
Churchill Archives Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratcliffe, John Ashworth 1902 births 1987 deaths Academics of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge British physicists Companions of the Order of the Bath

Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries, ...

Fellows of the Royal Society People educated at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School People educated at Giggleswick School People from Bacup Presidents of the Physical Society Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Royal Medal winners Presidents of the Cambridge Philosophical Society Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire