John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh

Infobox Scientist
name = Lord Rayleigh

---

caption = John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh
birth_date = Birth date|1842|11|12|df=yes
birth_place = Langford Grove, Maldon, Essex, England
death_date = Death date and age|1919|6|30|1842|11|12|df=yes
death_place = Terling Place, Witham, Essex, England
nationality = United Kingdom
field = Physics
work_institutions = University of Cambridge
alma_mater = University of Cambridge
doctoral_advisor = Edward John Routh
doctoral_students = J. J. Thomson
George Paget Thomson
Jagdish Chandra Bose
known_for = Discovery of argon
Rayleigh waves
Rayleigh scattering
Rayleigh criterion
Duplex Theory
religion = Christian
prizes = Nobel Prize for Physics (1904)

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh OM (12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English physicist who, with William Ramsay, discovered the element argon, an achievement for which he earned 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 and in his early years suffered frailty and poor health. He attended Harrow School and began studying mathematics at Trinity College, University of Cambridge, in 1861. In 1865, he obtained his BA (Senior Wrangler and 1st Smith's prize) and MA in 1868. He was subsequently elected to a Fellowship of Trinity. He held the post until his marriage to Evelyn Balfour, daughter of James Maitland Balfour in 1871. He had three sons with her.cite web | author= | title=Lord Rayleigh - Biography | url=http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1904/strutt-bio.html | work=Les Prix Nobel | publisher=The Nobel Foundation | date=1904 | accessdate=2008-07-23]

In 1873 his father, John Strutt, 2nd Baron Rayleigh died, and he inherited the Barony of Rayleigh.

He was the second Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge, following James Clerk Maxwell in this position from 1879 to 1884. He first described dynamic soaring by seabirds in 1883 in the British journal "Nature".

Approximately 1900 Lord Rayleigh 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 localisation.

Lord Rayleigh was elected Fellow of the Royal Society on 12 June 1873 and served as president of the Royal Society from 1905 to 1908. He died on 30 June 1919 in Witham, Essex.

Honours and awards

Craters on Mars and the Moon are named in his honor as well as a type of surface wave known as a Rayleigh wave. The asteroid 22740 Rayleigh was named in his honour on 1 June 2007. [cite web | author=JPL | title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 22740 Rayleigh | url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=22740 | publisher=NASA | date=2008 | accessdate=2008-07-23]

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

Publications

* " [http://gallica.bnf.fr/notice?N=FRBNF37285662 The theory of sound Vol. I] " (London : Macmillan, 1877) PDF copy from [http://gallica.bnf.fr Bibliothèque Nationale de France]
* " [http://gallica.bnf.fr/notice?N=FRBNF37285664 The theory of sound Vol. II] " (London : Macmillan, 1877) PDF copy from [http://gallica.bnf.fr Bibliothèque Nationale de France]
* " [http://www.archive.org/details/becquerelraysthe00raylrich The Becquerel rays and the properties of radium] " (London, E. Arnold, 1904)
* " [http://www.archive.org/details/scientificpapers02rayliala Scientific papers (Vol. 2: 1881-1887)] " (Cambridge : University Press, 1899-1920)
* " [http://www.archive.org/details/scientificpapers03rayliala Scientific papers (Vol. 3: 1887-1892)] " (Cambridge : University Press, 1899-1920)
* " [http://www.archive.org/details/scientificpapers04rayliala Scientific papers (Vol. 4: 1892-1901)] " (Cambridge : University Press, 1899-1920)
* " [http://www.archive.org/details/scientificpapers05rayliala Scientific papers (Vol. 5: 1902-1910)] " (Cambridge : University Press, 1899-1920)
* " [http://www.archive.org/details/scientificpapers06rayliala Scientific papers (Vol. 6: 1911-1919)] " (Cambridge : University Press, 1899-1920)

ee also

*Rayleigh criterion
*Rayleigh fading
*Rayleigh number
*Rayleigh quotient
*Rayleigh (unit) (named after his son)
*Rayleigh–Jeans law
*Rayleigh distribution
*Rayleigh–Taylor instability
*Plateau-Rayleigh instability
*Rayleigh Medal
*Rayleigh-Bénard convection

References

External links

* [http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/john_william_strutt.html About John William Strutt]
*

Persondata
NAME= Rayleigh, Lord
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Physicist
DATE OF BIRTH= birth date|1842|11|12|df=y
PLACE OF BIRTH= Langford Grove, Maldon, Essex, UK
DATE OF DEATH= death date|1919|6|30|df=y
PLACE OF DEATH= Terling Place, Witham, Essex, UK