Rayleigh, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron 1842-1919
English physicist and Nobel Prize winner

Born near Maldon, Essex, he graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, as Senior Wrangler and Smith's Prizeman, and was elected a Fellow (1866). He succeeded his father as third baron in 1873, and was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics at Cambridge (1879-84). He was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution (1888-1905), president of the Royal Society (1905-08) and Chancellor of Cambridge University in 1908. Rayleigh researched vibratory motion in both optics and acoustics, and with Sir William Ramsay he discovered argon (1894), for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for physics in 1904. His research on radiation led to the Rayleigh-Jeans formula, which accurately predicts the long-wavelength radiation emitted by hot bodies. His books included The Theory of Sound (1877-78) and Scientific Papers (1899-1900).

Bibliography: Bruce Lindsay, Lord Rayleigh: The Man and His Work (1970)