Blackett, P. M. S.

Blackett, P. M. S. ( Baron Blackett of Chelsea) (1897–1974) Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett was born in London. He trained for and entered the Royal Navy for the duration of the First World War. He then entered the University of Cambridge to read general studies before taking up physics. Blackett was to remain at Cambridge until 1933, working on nuclear physics in the Cavendish Laboratory and winning high esteem for his work. In 1933 he moved to Birkbeck College in London, where he began work in earnest on cosmic rays. Four years later he transferred to Manchester University's Chair of Physics, where he followed W. L. Bragg Blackett transformed the Department of Physics into a modern institution concentrating on cosmic ray research. Here he also developed his interests in astronomy generally and in astrophysics. It was while considering the behaviour of the magnetic fields of the Sun and the Earth that be became interested in geomagnetism and palaeomagnetism. The need for an improved magnetometer prompted Blackett to design and produce one, and the need for a non-magnetic laboratory building for geomagnetic observations led him to build one at Jodrell Bank, where the university had its astronomical observatory.

At the approach of war and during the war years Blackett was greatly involved with government committees concerned with defence research and he was a member of the Committee on Atomic Energy.

In 1953 he returned to London, to the Chair of Physics at Imperial College, where he continued his work on palaeomagnetism, influencing a number of younger workers who were to apply this research to problems of palaeogeography and continental drift. The significance of the results that were then materializing soon became known, and ‘polar wandering’ became a new topic of relevance to the general debate on continental drift. Blackett was instrumental in organizing the Royal Society's Discussion Meeting on continental drift in 1964, and he was very influential in changing some of the antagonistic attitudes towards the idea. This was one of the last meetings at which geophysicists voiced objections to drift. Blackett was pressing in his call for further geophysical research.

In addition to these endeavours, Blackett served in several capacities for university and government bodies, as adviser or committee member, and he was always interested in the academic and scientific development of the developing nations, especially India. He was elected President of the Royal Society in 1965, and was created a Life Peer in 1967; he died in 1974. The great debt the Earth science community owes to Blackett acrues not only for his pioneer work and influence in palaeomagnetism, but for his persuasive powers in bringing researchers in physics and the Earth sciences together. His influence was most important in the great debates about sea-floor spreading and continental drift.

D. L. Dineley