Background
Cook, Alan Hugh was born on December 2, 1922 in Felstead, Essex, England. Son of Reginald Thomas and Ethel (Saxon) Cook.
(Best remembered today for the comet that bears his name, ...)
Best remembered today for the comet that bears his name, Edmond Halley was one of the great scientists of all time. He discovered the proper motion of stars, made important studies of the moon's motion, and his investigations of the Earth's magnetic field and of tides were unrivalled for centuries. Now, in this superb full-length biography, Alan Cook paints an unsurpassed portrait of this preeminent figure. Halley played a crucial role in the Newtonian revolution in the natural sciences. Indeed, Cook reveals that it was Halley who set the question that led Newton to write the Principia, and who edited, paid for, and reviewed it. The author also describes how Halley's prediction of the transit of Venus led to Captain Cook's voyage to Tahiti and to an accurate calculation of the distance between the Earth and Sun. Perhaps as important, the book examines Halley's personal life, revealing a man who was far from a lab-bound thinker. As a young man, he sailed to St. Helena to chart the unmapped stars of the Southern Hemisphere. Moreover, Halley knew the leading artists of his age--Wren, Pepys, Handel, Purcell, and Dryden--and he travelled widely throughout Europe, meeting numerous fellow scientists and serving on a variety of diplomatic missions. He even spent a number of adventurous years as commander of a Royal Naval warship. Much material about Halley's career has only come to light in recent years. Alan Cook has used this new material to write an illuminating account of the life and times of one of the key scientists of the Enlightenment.
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(This book provides an up-to-date account of the precise e...)
This book provides an up-to-date account of the precise experiments that can be performed in a terrestrial laboratory and are used to explore the nature of universal gravitation. The experiments required are at the limits of sensitivity of mechanical measurements. The problems of experiment design are discussed, and critical accounts given of the principal experiments testing the inverse square law and the principle of equivalence, and measuring the constant of gravitation. An analysis of the effects of noise and other disturbances is also provided, further highlighting the care that is needed in experimental design and performance. The motivation for undertaking such experiments is also discussed.
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Cook, Alan Hugh was born on December 2, 1922 in Felstead, Essex, England. Son of Reginald Thomas and Ethel (Saxon) Cook.
He was educated first at the village school at Felsted, then at West Leigh School and finally (from 1933) at Westcliff High School for Boys.
His family were active churchgoers and Cook retained a lifelong Christian commitment. He died from cancer on 23 July 2004 at Arthur Rank House, Cambridge. Cook entered Corpus Christi College in 1940, reading "the natural science tripos" (physical sciences, biological sciences and the history and philosophy of science) and geology, receiving a Bachelor in 1943.
On graduation, he was drafted into the Admiralty Signals Establishment (now part of the Admiralty Research Establishment) as a temporary experimental officer, in the field of electronic counter-measures.
After the war he returned to Cambridge, where he studied for his doctorate under Edward Bullard and B. C. Browne. His dissertation was on precise measurements of gravity in the British Isles.
This developed into his core research interest: precision measurement in a wide range of areas the physical sciences. Thereafter, he did post-doctoral work there in geodesy and geophysics.
Cook followed Bullard to the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington, working at the meteorological department, where he carried out a number of experiments, including the absolute measurement of the density of mercury, important for precise estimates of atmospheric pressure.
Measuring the absolute acceleration of falling bodies, and determining the Earth"s gravitational potential, by using the precisely known orbits of the Sputnik satellites. His interests included precision measurement for time and length standards, particularly using hyperfine lines in the spectrum of cadmium and interference spectroscopy, laser interferometry and masers. In 1966 he became superintendent of the Laboratory"s quantum metrology division.
In 1969 he became professor of geophysics at Edinburgh University, founding that university"s geophysics department.
Three years later, he was appointed Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, where he set up the laboratory astrophysics group. His work there included experiments in microwave spectroscopy and tests of the inverse square law of gravitation at short distances.
In 1979 he became head of the Laboratory, and from 1983 to 1993 was master of Selwyn College. After retiring he took a strong interest in the history of science, and was the editor, from 1996, of Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, that Society"s main journal on the history of science.
1969: Fellow of the Royal Society.
(This book provides an up-to-date account of the precise e...)
(This book is intended for undergraduates taking geophysic...)
(Best remembered today for the comet that bears his name, ...)
(Planets have excited the minds of man since prehistory. I...)
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Fellow Institute Physics (Curriculum Vitae Boys Prize 1967, Charles Chree medal and prize 1993), Royal Astronomical Society (president 1977-1979), Royal Society, Royal Society of Edinburgh. Member Socio Straniero Academia National del Lincei, Explorers Club, United Oxford and Cambridge U. Club.
Married Isabell Weir Adamson, January 30, 1948. Children: Elspeth Mary, Alasdair James Alan.