Richard Makinson

Richard Elliss Bodenham Makinson (R.E.B. or Dick Makinson) was an Australian physicist (1913-1979) who contributed to the understanding of thermal conductivity in crystals. His work[1] is cited in the classical book Introduction to Solid State Physics by Charles Kittel.[2] He also contributed to the physics of amorphous semiconductors.[3][4] This work is cited in the book Quantum Electron Theory of Amorphous Conductors.[5]

During the Cold War, Makinson was suspected of communist sympathies and explicitly denounced by noted anti-communist William Wentworth. As a result he was denied a number of teaching positions, including a research chair at Sydney University where he taught from 1939 to 1968. [6][7]

Dick Makinson was a friend and colleague of John Clive Ward[8] and assisted in the creation of the physics program at Macquarie University where he obtained a position in 1968.[9] In the late 1970s he also supported the Macquarie science reform movement.

References

  1. ^ R. E. B. Makinson, Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc. 34, 474 (1938).
  2. ^ C. Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics, 8th Ed. (Wiley, New York, 2004).
  3. ^ R. E. B. Makinson and P. A. Roberts, Aust. J. Phys. 13, 437 (1960).
  4. ^ R. E. B. Makinson and P. A. Roberts, Proc. Phys. Soc. (London) 79, 630 (1961).
  5. ^ A. I. Gubanov, Quantum Electron Theory of Amorphous Conductors (CB, New York, 1965).
  6. ^ Buckley-Moran, Jean. "Australian Scientists and the Cold War". http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/86is/Buckley.pdf. Retrieved 2009-01-23. 
  7. ^ Moyal, Ann (2006). "7". Maverick Mathematician, The Life and Science of J.E. Moyal. ANU E Press The Australian National University. pp. 95. ISBN 1920942990. 
  8. ^ F. J. Duarte, The man behind an identity in quantum electrodynamics, Australian Physics 46 (6), 171-175 (2009). .
  9. ^ "Makinson, Richard Elliss Bodenham (Dick) (1913 - 1979)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A150343b.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-23.