Professor Leonard George Holden Huxley (1902-1988)
Papers 1929-1960

MSS 0035

 

Biographical Note

Leonard George Holden HuxleyLeonard George Holden Huxley (1902-1988) was appointed to the Elder Chair of Physics at the University of Adelaide in 1949 following a varied career that included war-time radar work, teaching at University College Leicester and teaching and research in electromagnetics at the University of Birmingham.  After a decade at Adelaide he was appointed Vice-Chancellor at the Australian National University, where he served until retirement in 1967.  A full account of his appointments and achievements, prepared by Professor R.W. Crompton for Records of the Australian Academy of Science in 1982, will be found at the Australian Science Archives project website.

 

Contents Listing

Series 1.  Correspondence. 1949-1955.  4cm
[Invitations, requests for testimonials, (minor) correspondence with colleagues including F.W.G. White of CSIRO re telescope project 1954]

Series 2.  Reprints of papers by Huxley. 1929-1936.  5cm.
['The Corona discharge in Neon' Philosophical Magazine July 1929; 'Cosmic rays and the earth's potential' Nature October 1934; 'Shipboard observations with a cathode-ray direction-finder between England and Australia' Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers September 1932; contributions to Science Review v.1. nos 1-6, December 1935-May 1936]

Series 3.  Notebooks and notes.  undated.  10 v. (exercise books) and loose sheets.
[Including a number of unbound early (student?) notebooks on thermodynamics, laboratory/experiment records, and some with titles, as  'Application of vector methods', 'Electromagnetic systems' and 'The education of the scientist']

Series 4. Correspondence/subject files relating to organizations. 1948-58. 40 cm.
Registration numbers given in brackets are those originally assigned. All are single files unless indicated otherwise.
4/1. Radio Research Board (C2.2). Correspondence, reports. 1948-1948. 2 files.
4/2. CSIRO (C2.4). Correspondence, publication lists. 1948-1958.
4/3. ANZAAS (C2.6). Correspondence, notes re meetings. 1956-1958.
4/4. Miscellaneous outside organizations (C2.9). Correspondence, circulars. 1949-1957.
4/5. Pan Indian Ocean Science Association (C2.11). Correspondence, reports. 1952-1957.
4/6. Visiting lecturers (C3.1). Correspondence. 1949-1957. 2 files.
Including correspondence with Sir Lawrence Bragg regarding a visit in 1960.
4/7. Sundry enquiries, flying saucers etc. (C3.2). 1954-1957.
4/8. Seismographs, earthquakes (C3.3). Correspondence. 1954.
4/9. Astronomy (C3.4). [Informal] correspondence. 1955-1957.
4/10. Adelaide University Science Association (D1.2). Correspondence. 1949-1954.
4/11. Astronomical Society (D1.3). Correspondence, minutes, agendas. 1949-1956.
Files include a photocopy of a typed letter to the Government Astronomer Dodwell from Albert Einstein, 10 March 1951.
4/12. Institute of Physics (D1.4). Reports, correspondence, minutes and agendas. 1950-1958.
4/13. Physical Society (D1.5). Correspondence. 1950-1956.
4/14. Science Teachers Association of South Australia (D1.10). Meeting agendas (circular) and journal issues for 1955 (v.1/1-1/3).
4/15. Union Internationale de Physique pure et appliquée (un-registered). Correspondence, circulars, agendas, reports. 199-1956. 4 files.

These papers were originally held in the Physics Department at the University of Adelaide and were transferred to the University Archives together with other departmental records in 1991.  The more personal papers of Professor Huxley (and of Kerr Grant and Carver) were transferred to the Library in 2001, while papers relating to the Physics Department during the period of their respective incumbency of the Elder Chair of Physics were retained as part of the Departmental records in the University Archives.