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Cavendish Laboratory
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The Cavendish Laboratory is the physics department of the University of Cambridge, opened in 1874 under James Clerk Maxwell as the university's first Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics. Its construction was funded by a 6,300 pound gift from William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, Chancellor of the University, and it was named for his ancestor Henry Cavendish, an earlier physicist and chemist unconnected to the laboratory itself. Under Ernest Rutherford, its director from 1919 to 1937, it became the leading centre in the world for the study of atomic structure; James Watson and Francis Crick worked out the structure of DNA there in 1953. As of the early 2020s, more than thirty scientists who worked at the Cavendish had won Nobel Prizes.
Facts
Founded Year FounderJames Clerk Maxwell, funded by William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire 1 SeatCambridge, United Kingdom 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
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Cavendish Professor and director of the laboratory, 1919 to 1937.
Worked out the structure of DNA with Watson there in 1953.
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