John Randall (physicist)
| Sir John Turton Randall | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 March 1905 Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 16 June 1984 (aged 79) |
| Residence | United Kingdom |
| Fields | Experimental physicist and biophysicist |
| Institutions |
GEC University of Cambridge King's College, London University of St Andrews University of Birmingham University of Edinburgh |
| Alma mater |
University of Manchester University of Cambridge |
| Doctoral advisor | Nobel-prize winner, Sir-William Lawrence Bragg, Head of The Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge |
| Doctoral students | 49 |
| Known for | High-power, multi-cavity magnetron for British and American radar stations in WWII, DNA structure determination, neutron diffraction studies of labelled proteins |
| Notable awards |
Duddell Medal and Prize (1945) Hughes Medal (1946) FRSE John Price Wetherill Medal (1958) Fellow of the Royal Society |
Sir John Turton Randall, FRS, FRSE (23 March 1905 – 16 June 1984) was a British physicist and biophysicist, credited with radical improvement of the cavity magnetron, an essential component of centimetric wavelength 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.
Randall also led the King's College, London team which worked on the structure of DNA. Randall's deputy, Professor Maurice Wilkins, shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with James Watson and Francis Crick of the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge for the determination of the structure of DNA. His other staff included Rosalind Franklin, Raymond Gosling, Alex Stokes and Herbert Wilson, all involved in research on DNA.
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, Christopher, born in 1935.
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