Thomas Gerald Pickavance (19 October 1915 – 12 November 1991) was a British

nuclear physicist 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 the ...

who was a leading authority on the design and use of

particle accelerator A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel electric charge, charged particles to very high speeds and energies to contain them in well-defined particle beam, beams. Small accelerators are used for fundamental ...

s. He was generally known as Gerry Pickavance.

Life and career

He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, the son of

estate agent An estate agent is a person or business in the United Kingdom that arranges the selling, renting, or managing of real estate, properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a Letting agent, letting or manag ...

William Pickavance and his wife Ethel and was educated at the

University of Liverpool The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a Public university, public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University (United Kingdom), Victoria University, it received Ro ...

. He worked on the development of the University of Liverpool

cyclotron A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator invented by Ernest Lawrence in 1929–1930 at the University of California, Berkeley, and patented in 1932. Lawrence, Ernest O. ''Method and apparatus for the acceleration of ions'', filed: Januar ...

and carried out research with it on the

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 ...

project during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was later responsible for the construction of the Harwell cyclotron and became leader of the Accelerator Group. During his time at Harwell he led research into new accelerators, which led to the installation in 1957 of the 50 MeV proton

linear accelerator A linear particle accelerator (often shortened to linac) is a type of particle accelerator that accelerates charged subatomic particles or ions to a high speed by subjecting them to a series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear ...

and the 8 GeV Nimrod

Proton Synchrotron The Proton Synchrotron (PS, sometimes also referred to as CPS) is a particle accelerator at CERN. It is CERN's first synchrotron, beginning its operation in 1959. For a brief period the PS was the world's highest energy particle accelerator. It ...

at the new Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, of which he was appointed the first Director. He was later Director of the Nuclear Physics Division of the

Science Research Council The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the United Kingdom, UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biote ...

and the second Chairman of the European Committee on Future Accelerators, an advisory body to

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in Meyrin, western suburb of Gene ...

Management, CERN Council and its Committees. In 1965, he was made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...

and in 1976 elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. In 1979, he was awarded the

Glazebrook Medal The Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize is awarded annually by the Institute of Physics to recognise leadership in the field of physics. It was established in 1966 and named in honour of Richard Glazebrook, Sir Richard T. Glazebrook, the first pre ...

by the

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 ...

. He died in 1991. He had married Alice Boulton and had two sons and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickavance, Thomas Gerald 1915 births 1991 deaths People from St Helens, Merseyside Alumni of the University of Liverpool British physicists British nuclear physicists Fellows of the Royal Society Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People associated with CERN