Lord Rayleigh

(c) Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, an English physicist who discovered of Argon, Rayleigh waves, Rayleigh scattering, Rayleigh criterion, Duplex theory, Sound theory, Rayleigh flow, Rayleigh-Plesset equation, Rayleigh–Schrödinger perturbation theory, Rayleigh–Taylor instability, and Rayleigh–Jeans law.

 

Biographical Overview

Born in England, 1842-1919

Served as president of the Royal Society from 1905 to 1908 and as chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1908 to 1919.

Awards

Nobel Prize,  1904

Smith’s Prize, 1865

Copley Medal, 1882

De Morgan Medal, 1890

Royal Medal, 1894

Matteucci Medal, 1899

Albert Medal, 1905

Elliott Cresson Medal, 1913

Rumford Medal, 1914

Worldview

Using a biblical worldview perspective, Rayleigh successfully applied the scientific method to investigate the laws of nature,  His worldview is notable from what he said –

“I have never thought the materialist view possible, and I look to a power beyond what we see.”

Lord Rayleigh