11.
Rutherford's Laboratory
The
war had encouraged people to get a scientific education
and the Cavendish was widely regarded as the chief centre
of research activity in physics. When the labs reopened
there were 600 students and 50 naval officers crammed
into a space designed for 300. Rutherford told the University
that £200,000 was needed to create new facilities
and a new Chair of Physics, but the cost was too much.
Rutherford refused to accept money from abroad, saying
that 'if the British want research, they can pay for
it'. For the rest of his Professorship Rutherford was
reluctant to ask for money: 'Can't we use our brains,
and get the same result from a smaller machine?'
There
were 20 research students in the Cavendish at this time.
Before 1919 the Cavendish Professor had supervised all
the research going on in the Cavendish directly, but
with the increased numbers this was no longer possible.
So while the bulk of the research students answered
to Rutherford, four continued to be supervised by J.J.
This was the first split of the Cavendish into research
groups.
During
the 1920s the Cavendish attracted researchers from all
over the world, including America. In 1921 Pyotr Kapitsa
arrived from Russia, and founded the Kapitza Club, a
physical society that encouraged uninhibited discussion,
although Rutherford was careful to warn him not to spread
Communist propaganda. Cambridge had become the leading
experimental physics lab in Europe, and despite cramped
conditions Cavendish physicists worked with a 'closeness
and intimacy' in contrast to other laboratories. While
Cambridge continued to lead the world in the practice
of experimental physics, continental Europe and America
had taken the lead in physical theory. Rutherford was
happy to leave theorists to 'play games with their symbols'
while his boys in the Cavendish turned out 'the real
solid facts of Nature'.
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