Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett
Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett (18th November, 1897-13th July, 1974) was a British physicist.
Graduating from Cambridge University in 1921, Blackett spent ten years working at the prestigious Cavendish Laboratory before moving to London (1933) and then Manchester University.
Blackett was awarded the OM, the CH, and in 1948 the Nobel Prize for Physics, for his investigation of cosmic rays undertaken at Manchester using his invention of the counter-controlled cloud chamber, confirming the existence of the positron and discovering the now instantly recogniseable opposing spiral traces of positron/electron pair production. This work and that on annihilation radiation made him one of the first and leading experts on anti-matter.
Professor Blackett was appointed Head of the Physics Department of Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, in 1953 and retired in July, 1963. The current Physics department building of Imperial College is named the 'Blackett Laboratory'.
In 1965 Blackett was made President of the Royal Society and was was awarded a life peerage in 1969.
