John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh

<<PLEASE FLESH OUT THIS ARTICLE AND ORGANIZE INTO SECTIONS. ASIMOV'S BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA MENTIONS THAT RAYLEIGH GREW INTERESTED IN PSYCHIC RESEARCH. THIS ASPECT OF HIS LIFE SHOULD BE EXPLORED AND NOTED IN THIS ARTICLE.>>

Lord Rayleigh
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh
Born	12 November 1842 Langford Grove, Maldon, Essex, UK
Died	30 June 1919 Terling Place, Witham, Essex, UK
Residence	UK
Nationality	English
Field	Physicist
Institutions	University of Cambridge
Alma mater	University of Cambridge
Academic advisor	Edward John Routh
Notable students	J. J. Thomson George Paget Thomson 20px Jagdish Chandra Bose
Known for	Discovery of argon Rayleigh waves Rayleigh scattering Rayleigh criterion
Notable prizes	Nobel Prize for Physics (1904)

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English physicist who (with William Ramsay) discovered the element argon, an achievement that earned him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904. He also discovered the phenomenon now called Rayleigh scattering and predicted the existence of the surface waves now known as Rayleigh waves.

Biography

Strutt was born in Langford Grove, Essex, the son of John Strutt, Second Baron Rayleigh, and his wife, Clara Elizabeth La Touche. In his early years suffered frailty and poor health, which interfered with his regular attendance at Eton and Harrow School. His last four years of pre-college education were spent at a private boarding school in Highstead, Torquay, run by the Rev. George T. Warner, where he developed an interest in mathematics and science.

He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1861 at the age of 20. In his college years, he was tutored for the mathematical tripos by E.J. Routh, and attended the lectures of George G. Stokes. In 1865, he obatined his Bachelor of Science degree, and finished first as Senior Wrangler and 1st Smith's prize, the two major mathematics contests on the university level. He was awarded a master of arts degree in 1868, and was subsequently elected to a fellowship at Trinity, after which he traveled for a time in the United States. Upon his return to England in 1868, he purchased equipment to outfit a laboratory in his own home. In the same year, he published his first paper on alternating currents. Rayleigh's research then turned to color vision and acoustics, during which time he carried on a correspondence with the prominent physicist James Clerk Maxwell. In 1871, he married Evelyn Balfour, daughter of James Maitland Balfour. The couple had three sons.

The same year, he published an analysis of light scattering of the atmosphere in which he accounted for the blue color of the sky.

Shortly after his marriage, Strutt suffered from Rheumatic fever and became dangerously ill. He gradually recovered after an excursion to Egypt, during which time he began work on his two-volume "Theory of Sound," which came out in 1877. In the next several years, he conducted research in optics, and devised a standard test for the resolving power of optical systems.

In 1873 Strutt's father died, and he inherited the Barony of Rayleigh and the Terling Place Estate at Witham, Essex.

In 1879, Strutt assumed the chair of second Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge, replacing Maxwell, who died of stomach cancer. He held this post until 1884, delivering 40 lectures a year and maintaining a presence at the university for 18 months out of the year. During this time, he developed a laboratory teaching curriculum, and conducted research on the relationship between the electrical and electromagnetic units for resistance.

Strutt became interested in determining the exact density of the common gases in air as early as 1882, when he addressed the British Association for the Advancement of Science on the topic. Upon his leaving the Cavendish chair in 1884, he commenced experiments in his laboratory that led to more exact determinations of the density of atmospheric nitrogen, which was found to differ from nitrogen produced from chemical compounds. In 1892, Rayleigh showed that the density of nitrogen prepared from ammonia was less than that of atmospheric nitrogen. This discrepancy Strutt attributed to the presence of an unknown gas. Strutt was joined by the Scottish chemist William Ramsey, who had been investigating the same problem, and the two isolated an element in 1895 which they named Argon. For this achievement, the two won Nobel prizes in 1905, Rayleigh in physics and Ramsey in chemistry.

In 1900 Strutt published results on the distribution of energy emanating from a body that is a perfect absorber and emitter of electromagnetic waves, known as a "black body." He was able to demonstrate this relationship for electromagnetic radiation of longer wavelengths only, however, through what is now called the Rayleigh Jeans law. Max Plank would resolve this limitation by introducing the concept of quantized energy.

relationship between developed the Duplex (combination of two) Theory (Human sound localization using two binaural cues). Interaural time delay (ITD) and interaural level difference (ILD) (assuming a spherical head with no external pinnae). Humans perceive sound objects spatially, using the difference in the phase (time delay) of the sound and the difference in amplitude (level) between the two ears, in a similar way that stereoscopic sight provides depth perception. Also called two primary cues for azimuth (horizontal location) but possibly its two primary cues for a 3 dimensional bearing. For example when you hear a seagull call out you can determine roughly x y and z location of the sound. Although Pinnae reflections are considered a main cue for vertical localization.

Lord Rayleigh was elected to Fellow of the Royal Society on June 12, 1873 and was president of the society between 1905 and 1908.

Lord Rayleigh died on June 30, 1919 in Witham, Essex.

Rayleigh and spiritualism

Rayleigh held deep religious convictions, and wished to harmonize these with his scientific pursuits. In the 1870s, influenced by fellow physicist William Crookes, he took an interest in psychical phenomena, and attended seances and sittings with those reputed to have psychic powers. <<<Oppenheim, Janet. 1985. The other world spiritualism and psychical research in England, 1850-1914. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]: Cambridge University Press. 331. ISBN 0521265053.>>> He never confirmed his belief in psychic manifestations, however, even though he retained a life-long interest in the subject. He was a member of the Society for Psychical Research, as were a number of Nobel laureates, and gave the group's presidential address in 1919, the year of his death. Oppenheim, 1985. 331.

His views on spirituality were perhaps best expressed in a letter to an acquaintance. "I have never thought the materialist view possible," he wrote in 1910, with only a decade to live, "and I look to a power beyond what we see, and to a life in which we may at least hope to take part." Oppenheim 1985. 332.

Prizes

• Royal Medal (1882)
• Matteucci Medal (1894)
• Copley Medal (1899)
• Nobel Prize for Physics (1904)
• Rumford Medal (1920)

Named after Rayleigh

• Craters on Mars and the Moon are named in honor of Rayleigh.
• A type of surface wave is known as a Rayleigh wave.

See also

• Argon
• Rayleigh scattering

References and further reading

• Rayleigh. 1968. Life of John William Strutt, Third Baron Rayleigh, O.M., F.R.S. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
• Rayleigh, John William Strutt, Robert Bruce Lindsay. 1945. The theory of sound. Vol. 1. New York: Dover. v-xi. ISBN 0486602923.
• Nobel website bio of Rayleigh
• About John William Strutt
• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson. John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh at the MacTutor archive
• Plateau-Rayleigh Instability - a 3D lattice kinetic Monte Carlo simulation

Honorary Titles
Preceded by: The Lord Carlingford	Lord Lieutenant of Essex 1892–1901	Succeeded by: The Earl of Warwick
Preceded by: William Huggins	President of the Royal Society 1905–1908	Succeeded by: Sir Archibald Geikie
Preceded by: The Duke of Devonshire	Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1908–1919	Succeeded by: Arthur Balfour
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: John Strutt	Baron Rayleigh 1873–1919	Succeeded by: Robert Strutt

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