Lindemann, Frederick, 1st Viscount Cherwell
Lindemann, Frederick, 1st Viscount Cherwell (1886–1957). Lindemann is one of the comparatively small band who have combined science and politics. His father came from Alsace but settled in Britain and prospered. Lindemann was educated in Germany, took his doctorate in 1910, and stayed on to do research in low-temperature physics. In 1919 he was elected to a chair at Oxford, reorganized the Clarendon laboratory, and was attached to Wadham College, though living in Christ Church. A strange creature in the aristocratic world which his wealth allowed him to frequent, he was known as ‘the Prof.’ His experience of flying during the First World War and his friendship with Winston Churchill led him to an interest in air defence in the 1930s but he was an awkward colleague. When war broke out, Churchill leaned upon his scientific knowledge, got him a barony in 1941, and made him paymaster-general. His report of March 1942 that German morale would collapse if housing in 58 German towns could be destroyed was impeccably argued, coolly scientific, and based on a report of bombing in Hull which had reached totally opposite conclusions. In 1951, when Churchill formed his second administration, the Prof. was promoted viscount and resumed as paymaster until 1953. Confident and overbearing, as a wartime adviser he was a doubtful asset.
J. A. Cannon
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Lindemann, Frederick, 1st Viscount Cherwell
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Lindemann, Frederick, 1st Viscount Cherwell