Michael Smith (awarded Nobel prize in 1993), for his fundamental contributions to the establishment of oligonucleotide-based, site-directed mutagenesis.
Mary Almond Physicist, radio astronomer, palaeomagnetist, mathematician and computer scientist. Undergraduate 1946-49 and PhD in radio astronomy 1952.
Hans Bethe (awarded Nobel prize in 1967), for his contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production in stars. Research staff and Temporary Lecturer 1932.
Patrick M. Blackett (awarded Nobel prize in 1948), for developing cloud chamber and confirming/discovering positron. Director and Langworthy Professor of Physics (1937–1953).
Niels Bohr (awarded Nobel prize in 1922). Research Staff and Schuster Reader 1911–1916. Worked on structure of atom and first theory of quantum mechanics.
William Lawrence Bragg (awarded Nobel prize in 1915, along with his father, William Henry Bragg), for X-ray crystallography (their work led to the first discoveries of DNA and protein structures). Director and Langworthy Professor of Physics (1919–1937).
James Chadwick (awarded Nobel prize in 1935). Student (BSc & MSc) and Researcher 1908–1913 (under Rutherford). Discovered the neutron.
Bibha Chowdhuri, First to discover mesons using nuclear emulsions. PhD in cosmic rays 1949.
Sir John Douglas Cockcroft (awarded Nobel prize in 1951), for his pioneering work with Rutherford and Walton, on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles. Born in Todmorden, he studied mathematics under Horace Lamb in 1914–1915 and received BSc and MSc in Electrical Engineering. Later he became Chancellor of UMIST and Director of BAERE (Manhattan Project Hall of Fame).
Brian Cox, physicist working at CERN and popularizer of science. Most notable for his physics documentaries on the BBC and as a member of a few popular rock bands.
Mrinal Kumar Das Gupta Co-discoverer of the double radio source, Cygnus A, and Head of the Institute if Radio Physics and Electronics and the Centre for Advanced Studies at the University of Calcutta. PhD in radio astronomy 1952.
George de Hevesy (awarded Nobel prize in 1943), for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes. Research Staff 1910–1913.
Sir Arthur Eddington. Graduated in 1902 and became a lecturer in 1905. Founder of modern Astronomy. He made important contributions to the general theory of relativity and led an expedition team to validate it.
Tamsin Edwards Climate scientist and science communicator. Undergraduate 1997-2001 and PhD in particle physics 2004.
Victor Emery, British specialist on superconductors and superfluidity. His model for the electronic structure of the copper-oxide planes is the starting point for many analyses of high-temperature superconductors and is commonly known as the Emery model.
Yvonne Elsworth, BSc (1970) and Phd (1976) now Professor of Helioseismology and Poynting Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham.
Wendy Flavell, Professor of Surface Physics at Manchester and Vice-Dean for Research in the Faculty of Science and Engineering.
Gillian Gehring OBE, undergraduate in physics 1959-62 and emeritus Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the University of Sheffield. She was the second woman in the UK to become a Professor of Physics.
Hans Geiger, Researcher 1906–1914, invented the Geiger counter and did the original "Rutherford scattering" experiment with Marsden (also the Geiger-Marsden experiment). Devised the famous Geiger ionization counter.
Helen Gleeson OBE, BSc in physics 1983, PhD in 1986 and the first woman to hold a chair in the Physics Department at the Victoria University of Manchester, before becoming Head of School in 2008. She specialises in soft matter and liquid crystals and is now Cavendish Professor and Head of the School of Physics at the University of Leeds.
James Hamilton, Irish mathematician and theoretical physicist, helped to develop the theory of cosmic-ray mesons
Sir John Lennard-Jones, entered Manchester University where he changed his subject to mathematics in 1912. After First World War service in the Royal Flying Corps, he returned to Manchester as lecturer in Mathematics, 1919–1922. Founder of modern theoretical chemistry. Lennard-Jones potential and LJ fluid are named after him.
Henry Lipson CBE, FRS, known for x-ray diffraction and its application to crystallography, professor at UMIST 1954–1977.
Sir Bernard Lovell, Professor (1951–1990) and creator of the giant radio-telescope (the first large radio-telescope in the world with a diameter of 218 feet) at Jodrell Bank: pioneered the field of radio astronomy.
Sir Ernest Marsden was born in Lancashire in 1888. He won scholarships to attend grammar school and gain entry to Manchester University. It was here he met Rutherford in his honours year. Rutherford suggested a project to investigate the backwards scattering of alpha particles from a metal foil. He did this in conjunction with Hans Geiger (of Geiger counter fame), and it proved to be the key experiment in the demise of the Plum pudding model of the atom leading directly to Rutherford's nuclear atom. Rutherford also recommended Marsden for the position of physics professor at what is now Victoria University of Wellington.
Henry Moseley, who identified atomic number as the nuclear charges. He studied under Rutherford and brilliantly developed the application of X-ray spectra to study atomic structure; his discoveries resulted in a more accurate positioning of elements in the Periodic Table by closer determination of atomic numbers. Moseley was nominated for the 1915 Nobel Prize but was killed in action in August 1915 and could not receive the prize.
Nevill Francis Mott (awarded Nobel prize in 1977), for his fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems.
Henry Plummer, astronomer who developed a gravitational potential function that can be used to model globular clusters and spherically-symmetric galaxies, known as the Plummer potential; Fellow of the Royal Society.
John Henry Poynting. Student 1867–1872; Lecturer 1876–1879. Left to become Professor at Mason College (which became Birmingham University). He wrote on electrical phenomena and radiation and is best known for Poynting's vector. In 1891 he determined the mean density of the Earth and made a determination of the gravitational constant in 1893. The Poynting-Robertson effect was related to the theory of relativity.
George Rochester discovered strange particles in 1947 with Clifford C Butler. Went on to become Chair of the Department at Durham University.
Ernest Rutherford, "the Father of Nuclear Physics" discovered the structure of the atom at the University of Manchester
Ernest Rutherford (awarded Nobel prize in 1908), for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances (he was the first to probe the atom). Langworthy Professor of Physics (1907–1919).
Mary Ryan is a Professor of Materials Science at Imperial College London and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Undergraduate 1988–91.
Sir Arthur Schuster, Langworthy Professor of Physics (1888–1907), who made many contributions to optics and astronomy. Schuster's interests were wide-ranging: terrestrial magnetism, optics, solar physics, and the mathematical theory of periodicities. He introduced meteorology as a subject studied in British universities.
Balfour Stewart, Scottish physicist, who devoted himself to meteorology and terrestrial magnetism.
Joseph John (J. J.) Thomson (awarded Nobel prize in 1906). Studied and researched 1871–1876 (entered at age 14). Discovered the electron.
Evan James Williams worked with Bragg and Blackett in the Physical Laboratories in the 1920s.
Sir Arnold Wolfendale, BSc 1948 and PhD 1954 in cosmic rays. Lecturer 1953–1956. 14th Astronomer Royal.
Physiology and medicine
The University of Manchester currently has 28 Fellows of the Academy of Medical Sciences.[15] Present and historical University of Manchester people notable for their contributions to medicine and physiology include:
Archibald Vivian Hill (awarded Nobel prize in 1922), for his discovery relating to the production of heat in the muscle. One of the founders of the diverse disciplines of biophysics and operations research
Ian Jacobs, gynaecologist and former vice-president of the University of Manchester
Ralph Kohn, British medical scientist and founder of the Kohn foundation. He was knighted in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to science, music and charity.
Herchel Smith, a researcher at the University of Manchester, developed an inexpensive way of producing chemicals that stop women ovulating during their monthly menstrual cycle in 1961
Sir John Sulston (awarded Nobel prize in 2002), for his discoveries concerning 'genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death'. In 2007, Sulston was announced as Chair of the newly founded Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation at the University of Manchester.
David H.H. Metcalfe Academic General Practitioner, Professor Of General Practice University of Manchester, President Royal College of General Practitioners
Nesta Wells was the UKs first female police surgeon
John Hicks (awarded Nobel prize in 1972), for his pioneering contributions to general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory.
Simon Johnson, British American economist, IMF Chief Economist
William White, Canadian economist, Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department at the Bank of International Settlements. Chairman of the Economic Development and Review Committee at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
William Stanley Jevons, father of neoclassical economics, was appointed in 1854 to establish a Chair in Political Economy making Manchester one of the oldest centres for the study of economics in the United Kingdom.
Sir Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor, Financial Stability, Bank of England
Sir Arthur Lewis (awarded Nobel prize in 1979), for his pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries.
Jim O'Neill, British economist and former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. As of 2014[update] he is an Honorary Professor of Economics at the University.
Joseph E. Stiglitz (awarded Nobel prize in 2001), for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information. Former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank, he is famous for his critical view of globalization and international institutions like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank. Currently, Stiglitz teaches at Columbia University and heads the Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI) at the University of Manchester.
Edward Harper Parker (1849–1926), famous sinologist, one of the leading pioneers of Chinese studies, became first chair professor in the field of Chinese studies of the University in 1901.
History
T. S. Ashton, economic historian. Served as Lecturer from 1921–1944. He notably turned down a knighthood in 1957.
A. J. P. Taylor, 1931–1938, renowned English historian of the 20th century. He was one of the best-known British historians of the century and one of the most controversial.
Michael Wood, TV historian appointed as Professor of Public History in 2013.
Ion Popa, historian and author studying the role of churches in the Holocaust
Ella Armitage, she taught history at Owens College and was a prominent researcher in medieval history and archaeology, publishing seminal works on the subject.
Sir Alfred Hopkinson, lawyer, academic and politician, Principal of Owens College (1898–1904); afterwards Vice-Chancellor of the Victoria University of Manchester (1903–13)[22]
Sir William Mansfield Cooper (1956–70); formerly Registrar; also professor of industrial and commercial law
Sir Arthur Armitage, President of Queens' College, Cambridge (1958–70), Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University (1965–67), Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University of Manchester (1970–80)
^Yalden, D. W.; Albarella, Umberto (2009). The History of British Birds. Oxford: Oxford University Press: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-921751-9.
