 cecil frank powell, frs (5 december 1903 â 9 august 1969) was a british physicist, and nobel prize in physics laureate for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and for the resulting discovery of the pion (pi-meson), a subatomic particle. powell was born in tonbridge, kent, england, the son of a local gunsmith, and educated at a local elementary school before gaining a scholarship to the judd school, tonbridge, which now has one of its four houses named after powell (the house colour is green), and awards the powell physics and mathematics prize to an upper sixth form student every year in his honour. following this he attended sidney sussex college, cambridge, graduating in 1925 in the natural sciences. after completing his bachelor's degree he worked at the cavendish laboratory, cambridge, under c.t.r. wilson and lord rutherford, conducting research into condensation phenomena, and gaining his ph.d. in physics in 1927. in 1928 he took up a post as research assistant to a.m. tyndall in the h.h. wills physical laboratory at the university of bristol, later being appointed lecturer, and in 1948 appointed melville wills professor of physics. in 1932 powell married isobel artner, and the couple had two daughters. in 1936 he took part in an expedition to the west indies as part of a study of volcanic activity, and where he appears on a stamp issued i
1903_births 1969_deaths Academics_of_the_University_of_Bristol Alumni_of_Sidney_Sussex_College,_Cambridge Alumni_of_the_University_of_Bristol Antianuclear_weapons_movement British_Nobel_laureates English_Nobel_laureates English_physicists Experimental_physicists Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society Nobel_laureates_in_Physics Particle_physicists People_educated_at_The_Judd_School People_from_Tonbridge Royal_Medal_winners