13.
The Austin Wing
The
real relief to the cramped conditions in the Cavendish
came in 1936 when Herbert Austin, the car manufacturer,
gave £250,000 to build the Austin Wing of the
Laboratory. Rutherford was happy to spend this much
needed money, and joked that there would be little left
for whoever followed him as Cavendish Professor.
The
main responsibility for planning the Austin Wing was
left with Professor J.D. Cockcroft. Building began in
May 1938, with Lord Austin laying the foundation stone
a year later. When the Second World War began in 1939
it looked like construction might have to stop, so it
was agreed the building could be used for war work.
The Austin Wing was finished in June 1940 but the work
performed there was top secret. At the start of 1945
the new laboratory was handed back to the University.
The
design of the Austin Wing, by C. Holden and H.G. Cherry,
was simple and flexible. The building had four floors
with light interior walls, allowing offices to be adapted
as needs arose. The second floor was set aside for administration
for the entire Cavendish, and also housed the library
and social meeting rooms. A series of group photographs
of researchers, running from 1897 and only broken by
the two wars, ran along the walls of this floor. The
other floors were set aside for research, with no undergraduate
teaching in the new Wing.
The
Austin Wing cost £77,000 and apparatus and fittings
a further £15,000. Lawrence Bragg, who became
Cavendish Professor after Rutherford, commented that
they were lucky to build it so cheaply; if they had
waited until after the war it would have been far more
expensive.
Rutherford
died unexpectedly before the new Wing was built, and
in 1938 Bragg was appointed as Professor. Physics at
Cambridge had enjoyed immense popularity under Rutherford,
but further progress in nuclear science required resources
that were no longer available at the University. 'Big
Science', nuclear and particle research requiring highly
energetic accelerators, could now only be supported
at national levels of expenditure. At the same time
the other Cambridge sciences, such as Chemistry and
Engineering, were growing in popularity. It was clear
that the Cavendish needed a change of direction.
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