Peter E. Hodgson (27 November 1928,

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 ...

– 8 December 2008) 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 cau ...

, who also wrote about the

philosophy of physics In philosophy, the philosophy of physics deals with conceptual and interpretational issues in physics, many of which overlap with research done by certain kinds of theoretical physicists. Historically, philosophers of physics have engaged with ...

and social issues, and was an active

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Early life

Peter E. Hodgson was born on 27 November 1928 in London. He graduated in 1948 with a BSc in

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. He began experimental research under

George Paget Thomson Sir George Paget Thomson (; 3 May 1892 – 10 September 1975) was an English physicist who shared the 1937 Nobel Prize in Physics with Clinton Davisson “for their experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals”. Educa ...

, and was one of the first to identify the K meson and its decay into three

pion In particle physics, a pion (, ) or pi meson, denoted with the Greek alphabet, Greek letter pi (letter), pi (), is any of three subatomic particles: , , and . Each pion consists of a quark and an antiquark and is therefore a meson. Pions are the ...

s, giving the most accurate, as of that time, estimate of its mass. In 1951, he was awarded the PhD for this work. In the 1960s, 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 ...

awarded him the D.Sc.

Career

Hodgson did

nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies th ...

under

Harrie Massey Sir Harrie Stewart Wilson Massey (16 May 1908 – 27 November 1983) was an Australian mathematical physicist who worked primarily in the fields of atomic and atmospheric physics. A graduate of the University of Melbourne and the University ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, studying the scattering of

neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , that has no electric charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. The Discovery of the neutron, neutron was discovered by James Chadwick in 1932, leading to the discovery of nucle ...

s by

alpha particle Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay but may also be produce ...

s. This drew the attention of

Rudolf Peierls Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, (; ; 5 June 1907 – 19 September 1995) was a German-born British physicist who played a major role in Tube Alloys, Britain's nuclear weapon programme, as well as the subsequent Manhattan Project, the combined Allied ...

and

Denys Wilkinson Sir Denys Haigh Wilkinson FRS (5 September 1922 – 22 April 2016) was a British nuclear physicist. Life Wilkinson was born on 5 September 1922 in Leeds, Yorkshire and educated at Loughborough Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge, ...

, who invited him to Oxford on 1958. There he became the head of the Nuclear Physics Theoretical Group, and until his retirement, a lecturer in Nuclear Physics and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. Hodgson was actively involved in the study of the impact of science on society, and of the resulting moral obligations of scientists. He was an active member of the Atomic Scientists' Association, serving on its Council from 1952 to 1959 and editing its journal from 1953 to 1955. Hodgson worked closely with the

Templeton Foundation The John Templeton Foundation (Templeton Foundation) is a philanthropic organization founded by John Templeton in 1987. Templeton became wealthy as a contrarian investor, and wanted to support progress in religious and spiritual knowledge, espec ...

, the Newman Society, and other organizations to promote the integration of science and religion. In later years, he became the president of the science secretariat of

Pax Romana The (Latin for ) is a roughly 200-year-long period of Roman history that is identified as a golden age of increased and sustained Roman imperialism, relative peace and order, prosperous stability, hegemonic power, and regional expansion, a ...

, whose bulletin he edited and to which he contributed several articles and book reviews. He also became a consultant to the

Pontifical Council for Culture The Pontifical Council for Culture () was a dicastery of the Roman Curia charged with fostering the relationship of the Catholic Church with different cultures. It was erected by Pope John Paul II on 20 May 1982 and in 1993 he merged the Po ...

(founded 1982). He encouraged Roman Catholic scientists, lay as well as ordained, to integrate their studies and belief, and to publicize their work. He emphasized the need for the Church to be thorough and professional about any scientific advice it took and scientific comment it made.

Death

Hodgson died on 8 December 2008. He had 4 children and many grand children including his grand-daughter Oriel Martine from his daughter Louise Hodgson. She then later on in life married Robert Martine.

Books by Hodgson

OUP = Oxford University Press.

Technical

*1963, "The Optical Model of Elastic Scattering". OUP. Reprinted in Hodgson (1994). *1971. ''Nuclear Reactions and Nuclear Structure''. OUP. *1978. ''Nuclear Heavy-Ion Reactions''. OUP. * 1980–81. ''Growth Points in Nuclear Physics, Vols. 1-3''. Pergamon Press. *1988 (with A N Antonov & I Zh. Petkov). ''Nucleon Momentum and Density Distributions in Nuclei''. OUP. *1990 (with

J. R. Lucas John Randolph Lucas (18 June 1929 – 5 April 2020) was a British philosopher. Biography Lucas was educated at Winchester College and then, as a pupil of R. M. Hare, R.M. Hare, among others, at Balliol College, Oxford. He studied first mathe ...

). ''Spacetime and Electromagnetism''. OUP. . *1991 (With E. Gadioli). ''Pre-Equilibrium Nuclear Reactions''. OUP. *1993 (with A N Antonov & I Zh. Petkov). ''Nucleon Corelations in Nuclei''. Springer-Verlag *1994. ''The Nucleon Optical Potential''. World Scientific. . *1996 (with E. Gadioli & E. Gadioli-Erba). ''Introductory Nuclear Physics''. OUP. *1997 (with S A Sofianos). ''Nuclear Physics''. Pretoria: University of South Africa.

Other

*1961. ''Nuclear Physics in Peace and War''. London: Burns & Oates. *1983. ''Our Nuclear Future''. Belfast: Christian Journals Ltd. *1990. ''Christianity and Science'', Studies in Christianity & Science. OUP. . *1994. (with Thomas A. Brody and Luis De La Peña) ''The Philosophy behind Physics'', 2nd ed. Springer. . *1997. ''Energy and Environment''. Bowerdean. . *1999. ''Nuclear Power, Energy and the Environment''. London: Imperial College Press. . *1999. ''Science, Technology, and Society''. Tokyo: Kinseido. *2002. ''Christianity and Science''. Johannesburg SA: St. Augustine College. *2003. ''The Roots of Science and Its Fruits''. London: The Saint Austin Press. *2005. ''Science and Belief in the Nuclear Age''. Sapientia Press of

Ave Maria University Ave Maria University (AMU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic university in Ave Maria, Florida. It existed formerly as "Ave Maria College" in Ypsilanti, Michigan, which was founded in 1998 and reestablished in 2007 along ...

. . *2006. ''Theology And Modern Physics'', Ashgate Science and Religion Series. London: Ashgate Publishing. . *2010. ''Energy, the Environment, and Climate Change''. Imperial College Press. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, Peter E. British physicists British particle physicists 1928 births 2008 deaths Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of University College London British academic journal editors Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Scientists from London English Roman Catholics