Thomas Allibone

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Thomas Edward Allibone, FRS, (November 11, 1903 – September 9, 2003), was an English physicist, his work included important research into particle physics, X-rays, high voltage equipment, and electron microscopes.

[edit] Early life

Thomas Edward Allibone was born in Sheffield in 1903. He was educated at the Central School in Sheffield followed by a physics degree at Sheffield University. In 1925 Allibone was awarded a scholarship by the Metropolitan-Vickers company to study the properties of zirconium. Allibone left Sheffield in 1926 to continue his postgraduate studies at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University. At Cambridge, he worked in the prestigious Cavendish Laboratory, with eminent scientists such as Rutherford, Cockcroft, and Walton. The use of high voltages to accelerate particles into each other became of particular interest to him. After gaining a first class honours degree in physics from Cambridge, Allibone returned to Metropolitan-Vickers, to take charge of their high-voltage research laboratory at Trafford Park, Manchester.

[edit] Career

Allibone remained at Metropolitan Vickers throughout the 1930s and 40s, publishing a number of scientific papers on subjects such as high voltage research, and X-ray tubes.

During the Second World War, Allibone was involved in a number of research projects including radar equipment and the highly secretive Tube Alloys project. In 1944 Allibone formed part of a team of British scientists sent to the United States, to work on the Manhattan Project, which developed the world's first atomic bomb.

In 1946, Allibone was appointed director of the AEI research laboratories at Aldermaston Court. Whilst at Aldermaston Court, Allibone was involved in pioneering research into nuclear fusion and electron microscopes, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1948.

In 1963, Allibone left Aldermaston Court to become the Central Electricity Generating Board's chief scientist, a post he held until 1970. He also became External Professor of Electrical Engineering at Leeds University in 1967.