William Roy Piggott
William Roy Piggott (born July 18, 1914 in London , † May 20, 2008 in Cambridge ) was a British physicist .
Life
WRPiggott was born in South London on July 18, 1914, as one of five children. He died in Cambridge on May 20, 2008. For his services in World War II , he was appointed officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1953 .
education
He received his education at the Royal Liberty School and King's College London . There he worked as an assistant to the ionospheric researcher Sir Edward Appleton , but initially focused on research on radon . After an accident with this radioactive gas, he moved to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge and began ionospheric research there.
Second World War
During the Second World War he worked at the radio research station in Slough . In 1945 he was sent by Appleton to Germany to report on the relevant research institutions there and their results. After an in-depth investigation, he decided independently and in deviation from the assignment he was given to transfer a group stranded in Austria and led by Walter Dieminger from the American zone in Austria to the British zone in Germany in order to continue to operate there under British supervision. He interpreted his marching order, signed by Appleton, as a corresponding instruction, on the basis of which he borrowed around 100 trucks with personnel from British occupation agencies in Austria. With this, he initially transported personnel and material from Ried in Upper Austria to Lindau (Eichsfeld) without objection . Because of these unauthorized actions he received a "severe reprimand", but the organizational result remained. The research group was later taken over into the Max Planck Society as the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy , today's Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research .
research
Piggott was considered one of the leading ionosphere researchers of his time and a pioneer in the study of the D-layer . In the preparation of the International Geophysical Year , Piggott was primarily involved in the WorldWide Soundings Committee of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI), which developed rules for the interpretation and evaluation of the standard measurements of the ionosphere. They are recorded in the URSI Handbook, edited by Roy Piggott and Karl Rawer, and are the recognized international standards for all ionospheric measurements to this day. Piggott also recognized the possibilities of the polar regions for ionospheric research and initiated the British research program in Halley Bay ( Antarctica ). He was one of the directors of this project for two decades and from 1973 until his retirement in 1979 he was director of atmospheric science for the British Antarctic Survey . The Piggott Peninsula in Antarctica has been named after him since 1985 .
Web links and sources
- Roy Piggott: international leader in ionospheric physics . Times obituary, June 30, 2008
- The time after 1945, comment by Prof. Dr. Karl Rawer
Individual evidence
- ↑ WRPiggott and K.Rawer: URSI Handbook of ionogram interpretation and Reduction , Elsevier, Amsterdam (1961)
- ^ Piggott Peninsula . SCAR Gazetteer Ref. No 1125
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Piggott, William Roy |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British physicist and radio frequency engineer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 18, 1914 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 20, 2008 |
| Place of death | Cambridge |