Talk:British Rayon Research Association

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Doing my best to find material and references. I have a couple of bits from the Times and Pathé so far.

Thanks for your work; this looks much better now. I'm removing the speedy tag now, since it no longer applies. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 20:11, 2 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

When I did my Ph.D. research during the years 1948--1951, I received a grant from BRRA equal to that given by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, which supported a majority of graduate students in science at the time. During the next two academic years, I was a post-doctoral fellow, supported by BRRA, working in London (at King's) and visiting BRRA each month for staff meetings. There was an informal agreement that following my work at King's, I would give BRRA preference over any industrial offer, but that BRRA would not object if I took an academic appointment. Because of the National Service Act of 1945, I went from King's to Royal Radar Establishment to do defense work until age 26, and BRRA had no objection to my joining IBM UK as "Manager of Applied Science".

During the time I was supported by BRRA, I worked in the Theoretical Physics group at King's College, London, with Charles Coulson, on a problem in the quantum theory of valency. Wilson wanted a quantum chemist to conduct a theoretical investigation of the causes of photo-rendering (studied experimentally by George Porter at BRRA, later). My work at King's, however, was a problem of Coulson's suggestion.

I am sure that BRRA staff published many papers on a wide range of topics. I think this article could be expanded considerably by reference to annual reports of BRRA to the committee to which Wilson was responsible. I would be surprised if these were not transferred to the library of the Shirley Institute when it merged with BRRA. Arthur Lodge (who I think had a background in theoretical nuclear physics, not rheology, possibly using tensors) began his publication in this field in about 1950. John Enderby worked on a problem in statistical thermodynamics between getting his Ph.D. at King's and going to UKAEA IGHQ, Risley. I think BRRA had an X-ray diffraction unit, and covered the gamut of spectroscopy, experimental rheology and viscosity studies. A literature search on publications by Treloar, by Porter, by Lodge and others, when they were at BRRA should be fruitful. Another physicist, Dr. Faust, took (or came from) an appointment at Royal Holloway College.

At risk of COI, I mention how the support of BRRA was to my benefit. During a staff meeting that I attended early in 1951, Wilson made a forceful statement, consequent on a request by some employees for time and financial support to attend a conference. His gist was he would allow and support attendance iff the staff member wrote a paper that was accepted for presentation. On my return to King's, Coulson showed me an invitation from Robert Mulliken to the Shelter Island Conference on Quantum Mechanics in Valence Theory and said he thought my work was relevant. I told Coulson what Wilson had said. Coulson suggested we write a joint paper. Wilson supported my trip and its extension to learn to use IBM equipment for scientific calculation (Father Brennan, S.J. Ph.D, then at Woodstock Seminary, had already used punched card machines in the general area of my research). My participation in the Shelter Island conference, and affiliation with BRRA, are verifiable -- see Talk:Shelter Island Conference#A disambiguation question. (My participation in conference brought me many further benefits -- I hope that remark is sufficiently low key). But mentioning my work in the Article would be disproportionate without expansion of the coverage of work done by Porter, Treloar, Lodge and others.Michael P. Barnett (talk) 22:17, 8 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

An expert in infra-red spectroscopy, Dr. Torkington, worked at BRRA and published. Michael P. Barnett (talk) 11:25, 9 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, I'll see what I can do about accessing the annual reports. It would mean a trip to Manchester if they have them.

On the lit searches, personally I don't have access to academic archives so have been piecing together what I can from the UK Google Books. I should be able to find references or citations for the works even if I can see them as they are still behind paywalls though Jim Killock (talk) Personal blog 14:04, 9 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]