Sir John Randall

Sir John Randall (March 23, 1905 – June 16, 1984) was a British physicist, credited with the invention of cavity magnetron, an essential component of the radar and the microwave oven. In 1943 Randall left Oliphant's physical laboratory at Birmingham to teach for a year in the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge before moving to St. Andrews (with Maurice Wilkins) to start biophysical research on a small Admiralty grant. He was also the first director of the MRC Biophysics Unit (now known as Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics) at King's College, London. During his term as director the experimental work leading to the discovery of the structure of DNA was made there by Rosalind Franklin, Raymond Gosling, and Maurice Wilkins. Maurice Wilkins shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine with James Watson and Francis Crick; Rosalind Franklin had already died from cancer in 1958.

Related Topics:
March 23 - 1905 - June 16 - 1984 - British - Physicist - Magnetron - Radar - Microwave oven - Cavendish Laboratory - St. Andrews - Maurice Wilkins - King's College, London - DNA - Rosalind Franklin - Raymond Gosling - James Watson - Francis Crick

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The following Memoir to the Royal Society was contributed by the late Professor Maurice Wilkins, Memoirs FRS, 33 (1987), 491?535:

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" Randall, Sir John Turton (1905-1984), physicist and biophysicist, was born on 23 March 1905 at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, the only son and the first of the three children of Sidney Randall, nurseryman and seedsman, and his wife, Hannah Cawley, daughter of John Turton, colliery manager in the area. He was educated at the grammar school at Ashton in Makerfield and at the University of Manchester, where he was awarded a first-class honours degree in physics and a graduate prize in 1925, and an MSc in 1926. He married Doris, daughter of Josiah John Duckworth, a colliery surveyor, in 1928. They had one son.

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From 1926 to 1937 Randall was employed on research by the General Electric Company at its Wembley laboratories, where he took a leading part in developing luminescent powders for use in discharge lamps. He also took an active interest in the mechanisms of such luminescence. By 1937 he was recognized as the leading British worker in the field, and was awarded a Royal Society fellowship to Birmingham University, where he worked on the electron trap theory of phosphorescence. When war began in 1939 Randall transferred to the large group working on centimetre radar. By 1940 he had, with H. A. H. Boot, invented the cavity magnetron, which gave a higher output of centimetre wave power and overcame the greatest obstacle in the development of radar. The magnetron was probably one of the most significant scientific advances of the war.

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In 1944 Randall was appointed professor of natural philosophy at St Andrews University and began planning research in biophysics. In 1946 he moved to the Wheatstone chair of physics at King's College, London, where the Medical Research Council set up the Biophysics Research Unit with Randall as honorary director. A wide-ranging programme of research was begun by physicists, biochemists, and biologists. The use of new types of light microscopes led to the important proposal in 1954 of the sliding filament mechanism for muscle contraction. At the same time X-ray diffraction studies aided the development of the double helix model of DNA by Francis Crick and J. D. Watson in 1953 at Cambridge. Randall was also successful in integrating the teaching of biosciences at King's College.

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In 1951 he set up a large multidisciplinary group working under his personal direction to study the structure and growth of the connective tissue protein collagen. Their contribution helped to elucidate the three-chain structure of the collagen molecule. Randall himself specialized in using the electron microscope, first studying the fine structure of spermatozoa and then concentrating on collagen. In 1958 he began to study the structure of protozoa. He set up a new group to use the cilia of protozoa as a model system for the analysis of morphogenesis by correlating the structural and biochemical differences in mutants. In 1970 he retired to Edinburgh University, where he formed a group which applied a range of new biophysical methods to study various biological problems. He continued that work with characteristic vigour until his death.

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In science Randall was not only original but even maverick. He made extremely important contributions to biological science when he set up, at the right time, a large multidisciplinary biophysical laboratory where his staff were able to achieve much success. His contributions as an individual worker in biophysics were possibly not so outstanding as those in physics. In science and elsewhere he showed good judgement. He had unusual capacity to see the essentials of a situation and had outstanding skill in obtaining funds and buildings for research. He was ambitious and liked power, but his ambition worked very largely for the common good. The informal and democratic side of his character contrasted strongly with his self-assertion. He showed great dedication and enthusiasm in his scientific work, just as he did in the extensive gardening he much enjoyed.

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In 1938 Randall was awarded a DSc by the University of Manchester. In 1943 he was awarded (with H. A. H. Boot) the Thomas Gray memorial prize of the Royal Society of Arts for the invention of the cavity magnetron. In 1945 he became Duddell medallist of the Physical Society of London and shared a payment from the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors for the magnetron invention, and in 1946 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society and became its Hughes medallist. Further awards (with Boot) for the magnetron work were, in 1958, the John Price Wetherill medal of the Franklin Institute of the state of Pennsylvania and, in 1959, the John Scott award of the city of Philadelphia. In 1962 he was knighted, and in 1972 he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Randall died on 16 June 1984 at Edinburgh. He was survived by his wife."

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