Sir John Randall

Sir John Randall (March 23, 1905 – June 16, 1984) was a British physicist, credited with radical improvement of the cavity magnetron, an essential component of the centimetre radar, which was one of the keys to the Allied victory in the Second World War. It is also the key component of microwave ovens. Image File history File linksMetadata Sir_John_Randall. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Sir_John_Randall. ... March 23 is the 82nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (83rd in Leap years). ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... June 16 is the 167th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (168th in leap years), with 198 days remaining. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A physicist is a scientist trained in physics. ... A cavity magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that generates coherent microwaves. ... M*A*S*H , see Corporal Walter (Radar) OReilly. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Microwave oven A microwave oven, or microwave, is a kitchen appliance employing microwave radiation primarily to cook or heat food. ...

He also led the King's College London team which worked on the structure of DNA; a member of his staff, Maurice Wilkins, shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, together with James Watson and Francis Crick of the University of Cambridge, for the determination of the structure of DNA. His other staff included Rosalind Franklin, Raymond Gosling, Alec Stokes and Herbert Wilson. Kings College London in London is the largest and second longest serving member college in the federal University of London, with 21,300 registered students (2003-04). ... Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (December 15, 1916 – October 5, 2004) was a New Zealand-born physicist and Nobel Laureate who contributed research in the fields of phosphorescence, radar, isotope separation, and X-ray diffraction. ... List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physiology or Medicine from 1901 to the present day. ... There is more than one person with the name James Watson: James Watson, participant in the Battle of the Little Bighorn James Watson, author of the novel Talking in Whispers James Watson, U.S. Senator from New York (1797-1801) James Watson, painter of 77 portraits held by the U... Professor Francis Harry Compton Crick, OM FRS (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was a British physicist, molecular biologist and neuroscientist, most noted for being one of the co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. ... The University of Cambridge (often called Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... The general structure of a section of DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid —usually in the form of a double helix— that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life, and most viruses. ... Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a British physical chemist and crystallographer who made very important contributions to the understanding of the fine structures of coal and graphite, DNA and viruses. ... The joke funeral card in the names of Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling Raymond Gosling is a distinguished scientist who worked with both Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at Kings College London in deducing the structure of DNA. He was born in 1926 and attended school in Wembley. ... Alec Stokes (Alexander Rawson Stokes, June 27, 1919–February 5, 2003) was one of the key contributors in the original DNA research team at Kings College London. ... Professor Herbert Wilson (1929 —) is a physicist, who was one of the original team who worked on the structure of DNA at Kings College London. ...

Randall failed to recruit Crick to King's College London; and instead Crick went on to Cambridge's Strangeways and Cavendish Laboratories. Some in molecular biology believe that since Franklin died early, and Maurice Wilkins was much less of a publicity-seeker, Watson and Crick have in the popular mind overshadowed them undeservedly. John Randall is 'the forgotten man' of the Double Helix saga, and his scientific reputation is overdue for revaluation. By comparison, his opposite number at the Cavendish Laboratory (Sir Lawrence Bragg) has been well documented, but Bragg's reputation in the history of the determination of the structure of DNA has also been somewhat overlooked. Bragg, supported by Kendrew and Perutz, overviewed the efforts made by Crick and Watson, and was in direct competition with Linus Pauling in the USA. (Randall's knighthood was in recognition of his major contribution to science.)

Origins

John Randall was born on 23 March 1905 at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, the only son and the first of the three children of Sidney Randall, nurseryman and seedsman, and his wife, Hannah Cawley, daughter of John Turton, colliery manager in the area. He was educated at the grammar school at Ashton-in-Makerfield and at the University of Manchester, where he was awarded a first-class honours degree in physics and a graduate prize in 1925, and an MSc in 1926. He married Doris, daughter of Josiah John Duckworth, a colliery surveyor, in 1928. They had one son. Location within the British Isles. ... Lancashire is a county in the North of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... Location within the British Isles. ... The University of Manchester in Manchester, England, was formed by the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester (commonly known as the University of Manchester before the merger) and UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) on 1 October 2004. ...

From 1926 to 1937 Randall was employed on research by the General Electric Company at its Wembley laboratories, where he took a leading part in developing luminescent powders for use in discharge lamps. He also took an active interest in the mechanisms of such luminescence. The General Electric Company, or GE, (NYSE: GE) is a multinational technology and services company. ...

The Magnetron

By 1937 he was recognized as the leading British worker in his field, and was awarded a Royal Society fellowship to the University of Birmingham, where he worked on the electron trap theory of phosphorescence in the Professor Marcus Oliphant's physics faculty. When the war began in 1939 Randall transferred to the large group working on centimetre radar. At the time limited transmitter output was the greatest single obstacle in the development of this type of radar. The University of Birmingham is an English university in the city of Birmingham. ... Mark Oliphant Sir Marcus Mark Laurence Elwin Oliphant (October 8, 1901 - July 14, 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Simple two-pole magnetrons had been developed in the 1920s but gave relatively low power outputs. A more powerful multi-cavity resonant magnetron had been developed in 1935 [1] by Hans Erich Hollmann in Berlin. By 1940 Randall and Dr Harry Boot produced a working prototype similar to Hollman's cavity magnetron, but added liquid cooling and a stronger cavity. However Randall and Boot soon managed to increase its power output 100-fold. The 1920s were a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... A cavity magnetron is a high-powered vacuum tube that generates coherent microwaves. ... Hans Eric Hollmann (4 November 1899 — ) was a German electronic specialist who made several breakthroughs in the development of radar. ... (help· info) is the capital city and a state of Germany. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Dr Henry Albert Howard Harry Boot (29 July 1917 — 8 February 1983) was a physicist who with Sir John Randall and James Sayers developed the cavity magnetron, which was one of the keys to the Allied victory in the Second World War. ...

The importance of a powerful cavity magnetron was immense. Centimetric radar could detect much smaller objects. The combination of the small-sized cavity magnetron, small antennas and high resolution allowed small high quality radars to be installed in aircraft to detect submarines and other aircraft. This advance eventually defeated the German U-boats and so won the Battle of the Atlantic. This allowed Britain to be supplied and then re-armed from across the Atlantic, ultimately allowing for the the liberation of continental Europe. Other applications of radar included aerial interception of bombers at night, better navigation of Allied bombers (H2S), better anti-aircraft batteries and naval gunnery and proximity fuzes. One million magnetrons were produced by Bell Labs alone in the USA before the end of the war. An official American historian described magnetron number 12 that was taken to the USA in September 1940 as follows: "When the members of the Tizard Mission brought one to America in 1940, they carried the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores." U-boat is also a nickname for some diesel locomotives built by GE; see List of GE locomotives October 1939. ... Battle of the Atlantic can refer to either of two naval campaigns, depending on context: World War I - First Battle of the Atlantic World War II - Second Battle of the Atlantic A Third Battle of the Atlantic was envisioned to be be part of any Third World War that arose... Land on Normandy In military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. ... For other meaning link to H2S radar. ... Look up Proximity fuze in Wiktionary, the free dictionary A proximity fuze (also called a VT fuze) is a fuze that is designed to detonate an explosive automatically when close enough to the target to destroy it. ... Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc. ... In the late Sepember 1940 during the Battle of Britain in the Second World War, a delegation arrived from the UK in the United States on a mission instigated by Henry Tizard, known as the Tizard Mission. ...

In 1943 Randall left Oliphant's physical laboratory at Birmingham to teach for a year in the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge. In 1944 Randall was appointed professor of natural philosophy at University of St Andrews and began planning research in biophysics (with Maurice Wilkins) on a small Admiralty grant. Plaque The Cavendish Laboratory is Cambridge Universitys Department of Physics, and is part of the universitys School of Physical Sciences. ... The University of St Andrews was founded between 1410 and 1413 and is the oldest university in Scotland (and third oldest in the English speaking world). ... Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (December 15, 1916 – October 5, 2004) was a New Zealand-born physicist and Nobel Laureate who contributed research in the fields of phosphorescence, radar, isotope separation, and X-ray diffraction. ...

Double Helix Discovery

William Astbury

Oswald Avery

Francis Crick

Erwin Chargaff

Max Delbrück

Jerry Donohue

Rosalind Franklin

Raymond Gosling

Phoebus Levene

Linus Pauling

Sir John Randall

Erwin Schrödinger

Alec Stokes

James Watson

Maurice Wilkins

Herbert Wilson

Image File history File links Dna-split2. ... The Discovery of the DNA Double Helix Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid by James D. Watson and Francis H. Crick. ... The Discovery of the DNA Double Helix Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid by James D. Watson and Francis H. Crick. ... William Astbury (1898-1961) was an English biochemist who made X-ray diffraction studies of nucleic acid in 1937. ... Oswald Avery in 1937 Oswald Theodore Avery (1877-1955) was a physician, medical researcher and early molecular biologist. ... Professor Francis Harry Compton Crick, OM FRS (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was a British physicist, molecular biologist and neuroscientist, most noted for being one of the co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. ... Erwin Chargaff (August 11, 1905 – June 20, 2002) was an Austrian biochemist. ... Max Delbrück (September 4, 1906 - March 9, 1981) was a German biologist. ... Jerry Donohue June 12, 1920 — February 13, 1985 was a theoretical and physical chemist, who is best remembered for steering James D. Watson and Francis Crick towards the correct structure of DNA with some crucial information. ... Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a British physical chemist and crystallographer who made very important contributions to the understanding of the fine structures of coal and graphite, DNA and viruses. ... The joke funeral card in the names of Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling Raymond Gosling is a distinguished scientist who worked with both Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at Kings College London in deducing the structure of DNA. He was born in 1926 and attended school in Wembley. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Linus Carl Pauling (February 28, 1901 – August 19, 1994) was an American quantum chemist and biochemist, widely regarded as the premier chemist of the twentieth century. ... Erwin Schrödinger, as depicted on the former Austrian 1000 Schilling bank note. ... Alec Stokes (Alexander Rawson Stokes, June 27, 1919–February 5, 2003) was one of the key contributors in the original DNA research team at Kings College London. ... James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule. ... Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (December 15, 1916 – October 5, 2004) was a New Zealand-born physicist and Nobel Laureate who contributed research in the fields of phosphorescence, radar, isotope separation, and X-ray diffraction. ... Professor Herbert Wilson (1929 —) is a physicist, who was one of the original team who worked on the structure of DNA at Kings College London. ...

King's College London

In 1946 he moved to the Wheatstone chair of physics at King's College London, where the Medical Research Council set up the Biophysics Research Unit with Randall as the director (now known as Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics) at King's College London. During his term as director the experimental work leading to the discovery of the structure of DNA was made there by Rosalind Franklin, Raymond Gosling, and Maurice Wilkins. Maurice Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine with James Watson and Francis Crick; Rosalind Franklin had already died from cancer in 1958. Kings College London in London is the largest and second longest serving member college in the federal University of London, with 21,300 registered students (2003-04). ... Kings College London in London is the largest and second longest serving member college in the federal University of London, with 21,300 registered students (2003-04). ... The general structure of a section of DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid —usually in the form of a double helix— that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life, and most viruses. ... Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a British physical chemist and crystallographer who made very important contributions to the understanding of the fine structures of coal and graphite, DNA and viruses. ... The joke funeral card in the names of Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling Raymond Gosling is a distinguished scientist who worked with both Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at Kings College London in deducing the structure of DNA. He was born in 1926 and attended school in Wembley. ... James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is one of the discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule. ... Professor Francis Harry Compton Crick, OM FRS (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was a British physicist, molecular biologist and neuroscientist, most noted for being one of the co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953. ...

In addition to the X-Ray diffraction work the unit conducted a wide-ranging programme of research by physicists, biochemists, and biologists. The use of new types of light microscopes led to the important proposal in 1954 of the sliding filament mechanism for muscle contraction. Randall was also successful in integrating the teaching of biosciences at King's College.

In 1951 he set up a large multidisciplinary group working under his personal direction to study the structure and growth of the connective tissue protein collagen. Their contribution helped to elucidate the three-chain structure of the collagen molecule. Randall himself specialized in using the electron microscope, first studying the fine structure of spermatozoa and then concentrating on collagen. In 1958 he began to study the structure of protozoa. He set up a new group to use the cilia of protozoa as a model system for the analysis of morphogenesis by correlating the structural and biochemical differences in mutants.

Later years

In 1970 he retired to Edinburgh University, where he formed a group which applied a range of new biophysical methods to study various biological problems. He continued that work with characteristic vigour until his death.

In science Randall was not only original but even maverick. He made extremely important contributions to biological science when he set up, at the right time, a large multidisciplinary biophysical laboratory where his staff were able to achieve much success. His contributions as an individual worker in biophysics were possibly not so outstanding as those in physics. In science and elsewhere he showed good judgement. He had unusual capacity to see the essentials of a situation and had outstanding skill in obtaining funds and buildings for research. He was ambitious and liked power, but his ambition worked very largely for the common good. The informal and democratic side of his character contrasted strongly with his self-assertion. He showed great dedication and enthusiasm in his scientific work, just as he did in the extensive gardening he much enjoyed.

Honours

In 1938 Randall was awarded a DSc by the University of Manchester. In 1943 he was awarded (with H. A. H. Boot) the Thomas Gray memorial prize of the Royal Society of Arts for the invention of the cavity magnetron. In 1945 he became Duddell medallist of the Physical Society of London and shared a payment from the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors for the magnetron invention, and in 1946 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society and became its Hughes medallist. Further awards (with Boot) for the magnetron work were, in 1958, the John Price Wetherill medal of the Franklin Institute of the state of Pennsylvania and, in 1959, the John Scott award of the city of Philadelphia. In 1962 he was knighted, and in 1972 he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Maurice Wilkins wrote this about Randall for the Royal Society on his death:

Randall, Sir John Turton (1905-1984), physicist and biophysicist, was born on 23 March 1905 at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, the only son and the first of the three children of Sidney Randall, nurseryman and seedsman, and his wife, Hannah Cawley, daughter of John Turton, colliery manager in the area. He was educated at the grammar school at Ashton in Makerfield and at the University of Manchester, where he was awarded a first-class honours degree in physics and a graduate prize in 1925, and an MSc in 1926. He married Doris, daughter of Josiah John Duckworth, a colliery surveyor, in 1928. They had one son.

From 1926 to 1937 Randall was employed on research by the General Electric Company at its Wembley laboratories, where he took a leading part in developing luminescent powders for use in discharge lamps. He also took an active interest in the mechanisms of such luminescence. By 1937 he was recognized as the leading British worker in the field, and was awarded a Royal Society fellowship to Birmingham University, where he worked on the electron trap theory of phosphorescence. When war began in 1939 Randall transferred to the large group working on centimetre radar. By 1940 he had, with H. A. H. Boot, invented the cavity magnetron, which gave a higher output of centimetre wave power and overcame the greatest obstacle in the development of radar. The magnetron was probably one of the most significant scientific advances of the war.

In 1944 Randall was appointed professor of natural philosophy at St Andrews University and began planning research in biophysics. In 1946 he moved to the Wheatstone chair of physics at King's College London, where the Medical Research Council set up the Biophysics Research Unit with Randall as honorary director. A wide-ranging programme of research was begun by physicists, biochemists, and biologists. The use of new types of light microscopes led to the important proposal in 1954 of the sliding filament mechanism for muscle contraction. At the same time X-ray diffraction studies aided the development of the double helix model of DNA by Francis Crick and J. D. Watson in 1953 at Cambridge. Randall was also successful in integrating the teaching of biosciences at King's College.

In 1951 he set up a large multidisciplinary group working under his personal direction to study the structure and growth of the connective tissue protein collagen. Their contribution helped to elucidate the three-chain structure of the collagen molecule. Randall himself specialized in using the electron microscope, first studying the fine structure of spermatozoa and then concentrating on collagen. In 1958 he began to study the structure of protozoa. He set up a new group to use the cilia of protozoa as a model system for the analysis of morphogenesis by correlating the structural and biochemical differences in mutants. In 1970 he retired to Edinburgh University, where he formed a group which applied a range of new biophysical methods to study various biological problems. He continued that work with characteristic vigour until his death.

In science Randall was not only original but even maverick. He made extremely important contributions to biological science when he set up, at the right time, a large multidisciplinary biophysical laboratory where his staff were able to achieve much success. His contributions as an individual worker in biophysics were possibly not so outstanding as those in physics. In science and elsewhere he showed good judgement. He had unusual capacity to see the essentials of a situation and had outstanding skill in obtaining funds and buildings for research. He was ambitious and liked power, but his ambition worked very largely for the common good. The informal and democratic side of his character contrasted strongly with his self-assertion. He showed great dedication and enthusiasm in his scientific work, just as he did in the extensive gardening he much enjoyed.

In 1938 Randall was awarded a DSc by the University of Manchester. In 1943 he was awarded (with H. A. H. Boot) the Thomas Gray memorial prize of the Royal Society of Arts for the invention of the cavity magnetron. In 1945 he became Duddell medallist of the Physical Society of London and shared a payment from the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors for the magnetron invention, and in 1946 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society and became its Hughes medallist. Further awards (with Boot) for the magnetron work were, in 1958, the John Price Wetherill medal of the Franklin Institute of the state of Pennsylvania and, in 1959, the John Scott award of the city of Philadelphia. In 1962 he was knighted, and in 1972 he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Randall died on 16 June 1984 at Edinburgh. He was survived by his wife.

Source: M. H. F. Wilkins, Memoirs FRS,

DNA structure research at King's College London 1947-1959     Maurice Wilkins | Rosalind Franklin | Raymond Gosling | Alec Stokes | Herbert Wilson | John Randall|

KCL logo This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ... Kings College London in London is the largest and second longest serving member college in the federal University of London, with 21,300 registered students (2003-04). ... Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (December 15, 1916 – October 5, 2004) was a New Zealand-born physicist and Nobel Laureate who contributed research in the fields of phosphorescence, radar, isotope separation, and X-ray diffraction. ... Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 1920 – 16 April 1958) was a British physical chemist and crystallographer who made very important contributions to the understanding of the fine structures of coal and graphite, DNA and viruses. ... The joke funeral card in the names of Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling Raymond Gosling is a distinguished scientist who worked with both Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at Kings College London in deducing the structure of DNA. He was born in 1926 and attended school in Wembley. ... Alec Stokes (Alexander Rawson Stokes, June 27, 1919–February 5, 2003) was one of the key contributors in the original DNA research team at Kings College London. ... Professor Herbert Wilson (1929 —) is a physicist, who was one of the original team who worked on the structure of DNA at Kings College London. ... Selfmade icon displaying a DNA double helix. ...

Books featuring Sir John Randall

• Chomet, S. (Ed.), D.N.A. Genesis of a Discovery, 1994, Newman- Hemisphere Press, London; NB a few copies are available from Newman-Hemisphere at 101 Swan Court, London SW3 5RY(phone: 07092 060530).
• Wilkins, Maurice, The Third Man of the Double Helix: The Autobiography of Maurice Wilkins ISBN 0198606656.
• Ridley, Matt; "Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code (Eminent Lives)" will be first published in July 2006 in the USA and then in the U.K. September 2006, by HarperCollins Publishers; 192 pp, ISBN: 006082333X; this book is already being shown on Amazon for advance orders pre-publication. [This short book is in the publisher's "Eminent Lives" series.]

External links

• Biography and picture of John Randall at the King's College website
• Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics website
• 'Death' of D.N.A. Helix (Crystaline) joke funeral card.
• [2] First press stories on D.N.A.