Axiell Internet Server 6
  • Title
    G F C Searle correspondence
  • Reference
    UK0108 SC MSS 005/I/6/41
  • Date
    1891-1919
  • Scope and Content
    Letters from George Frederick Charles Searle FRS (1864-1954) from his first letter as a student at the Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge until 1919. The letters contain interesting information on the teaching at Cambridge, and the effect of the First World War on Cambridge life. Searle worked at the Royal Aircraft Establishment during the First World War and gives details of the death of C V Burton. Searle was a lifelong friend of Heaviside and wrote a memoir about his life. He also tried to help Heaviside in his periods of financial distress. [Note: GFC Searle was a British physicist and teacher. As a child, Searle knew Clerk Maxwell, whom he considered to be a humorous individual. In 1888 he began work at the Cavendish Laboratory under J.J. Thomson, and ended up working with the laboratory for 55 years. After World War II, he ran the undergraduate laboratories. Searle is known for his work on the velocity dependence of the electromagnetic mass. This was a direct predecessor of Einstein's theory of special relativity, when several people were investigating the change of mass with velocity. Following the work of Oliver Heaviside, he defined the expression Heaviside ellipsoid, which means that the electrostatic field is contracted in the line of motion. Those developments, when modified, were ultimately important for the development of special relativity.]
  • Physical description
    Number of pieces: 212
  • Language
    English
  • Persons keyword
    Searle George Frederick Charles, Cambridge University, Burton Charles V
  • Subject
    First World War, Education, Radiocommunications
  • Conditions governing access
    Open access
  • Level of description
    file
Hierarchy browser
  •  
    110000003

    Special Collection Manuscripts

    contains 322 parts
    •  
      UK0108 SC MSS 005

      Heaviside Collection

      contains 3 parts
      •  
        UK0108 SC MSS 005/I

        Primary collection of Heaviside papers

        contains 6 parts
        •  
          UK0108 SC MSS 005/I/6

          Correspondence from other notable scientists and mathematicians

          contains 50 parts
          •  
            UK0108 SC MSS 005/I/6/41

            G F C Searle correspondence

            contains 212 parts