| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The Department is named after Henry Cavendish, a famous physicist, and a member of the Dukes of Devonshire branch of the Cavendish family. Another family member, William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, was Chancellor of the University, and he gave money to endow the laboratory in memory of his learned relative.
So far, 28 Cavendish researchers have won Nobel prizes.
The Cavendish Laboratory has had important influence on biology, mainly through the application of X-ray crystallography to the study of structures of biological molecules. Francis Crick already worked in the Medical Research Council Unit headed by Max Perutz and housed in the Cavendish Laboratory when James Watson came from the U.S.A. and they together discovered the DNA double helix. For their work while in the Cavendish Laboratory they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1962.
Other areas in which the Laboratory has been very influential since 1950 include:- Superconductivity (under A Brian Pippard ); High Voltage Electron Microscopy;
Radio Astronomy (under Martin RyleSir Martin Ryle ( September 27, 1918 October 14, 1984) was a British radio astronomer who developed revolutionary radio telescope systems (see eg aperture synthesis) and used them for accurate location of weak radio sources. With improved equipment, he ob and Antony HewishAntony Hewish (born Fowey, Cornwall, May 11, 1924) is a British radio astronomer who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 (together with fellow radio-astronomer Martin Ryle) for his role in the discovery of pulsars. He was also awarded the Eddington Me) with the radio-telescopes being based at Mullard Radio Astronomy ObservatoryMullard Radio Astronomy Observatory is home to a number of large aperture synthesis radio telescopes, including the 'One-Mile' and '5km' instruments. It was founded under Martin Ryle (with Antony Hewish and others) in the late 1950's as a field-site of thThere is a Cavendish Professorship of PhysicsThe Cavendish Professorship is one of the senior Professorships in Physics at Cambridge University and was founded by grace of 9 February 1871 alongside the famous Cavendish Laboratory which was completed three years later. The endowment was granted by Wi.