Editing Edward Appleton (section)

== Biography ==
[[File:Grave of Sir Edward Appleton - geograph.org.uk - 1234267.jpg|thumb|left|The grave of Sir Edward Victor Appleton, Morningside Cemetery, Edinburgh]]
Appleton was born in [[Bradford]], [[West Riding of Yorkshire]], the son of Peter Appleton, a warehouseman, and Mary Wilcock, and was educated at [[Hanson School|Hanson Grammar School]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Physics 1947|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1947/appleton/biographical/|access-date=2021-08-17|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1911, aged 18, he was awarded a scholarship to attend [[St John's College, Cambridge]], where he graduated with First Class Honours in Natural Science with Physics in 1913. He was also a member of [[Isaac Newton University Lodge]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lodgestpatrick.co.nz/famous.php|title = Famous Freemasons A-L}}</ref> In 1915 he married his first wife, Jessie Appleton (formerly Longson), with whom he had two children. Three years after her death he married Helen Lennie (m. 1965).

During the First World War he joined the [[Duke of Wellington's Regiment|West Riding Regiment]], and later transferred to the [[Royal Engineers]]. After returning from active service in the First World War, Appleton became assistant demonstrator in experimental physics at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]] in 1920. In 1922 he was initiated into [[Freemasonry]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://freemasonry.london.museum/it/wp-content/resources/frs_freemasons_complete_jan2010.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224162518/http://freemasonry.london.museum/it/wp-content/resources/frs_freemasons_complete_jan2010.pdf |archive-date=24 December 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was professor of physics at [[King's College London]] (1924–1936) and professor of natural philosophy at the [[University of Cambridge]] (1936–1939). From 1939 to 1949 he was secretary of the [[Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (United Kingdom)|Department of Scientific and Industrial Research]]. Knighted in 1941, he received the 1947 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] for his contributions to the knowledge of the [[ionosphere]],<ref name="ion">{{Cite journal|author=Appleton, EV|year=1932|title=Wireless Studies of the Ionosphere|journal= Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers|volume=71|issue=430|pages=642–650|doi=10.1049/jiee-1.1932.0144}}</ref> which led to the development of [[radar]].

From 1949 until his death in 1965, Appleton was Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the [[University of Edinburgh]].<ref>{{cite book | first=Derek A J| last=Lister | title=Bradford's Own | year=2004 | publisher=Sutton | isbn=0-7509-3826-9}}</ref> From 1960 he was involved with the University's plans for a CDA (Comprehensive Development Area) which would have demolished 125 acres of Edinburgh's historic southside, resulting in the loss of many homes and businesses. This University-led project blighted the area for a decade before being abandoned in the mid 1970s.  One recent study describes Appleton as a megalomaniac in his desire to carry out these plans.<ref>Toun's College or College's toun? by Michael Gall, in The Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, New Series, Volume 18 (2002)</ref>

In 1956, the BBC invited him to deliver the annual [[Reith Lectures]]. Across a series of six radio broadcasts, titled ''Science and the Nation'', he explored the many facets of scientific activity in Britain at the time.

Sir Edward died on 21 April 1965 at [[Edinburgh]] and is buried in Edinburgh's [[Morningside Cemetery, Edinburgh|Morningside Cemetery]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/news/2015/50th-anniversary-tributes-paid-memory-pioneering-scientist-15-05-19|title=50th anniversary tributes paid in memory of pioneering scientist|website=School of Physics and Astronomy|date=19 May 2015 }}</ref> with his wife Helen Lennie (d. 1983). The grave lies towards the extreme western side near the new housing to the north-west.