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John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh

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"Lord Rayleigh" redirects here. For other members, see Baron Rayleigh.

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (/ˈreɪli/ RAY-lee;[2] 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919), was a British physicist and hereditary peer who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1904 for his discovery of argon.[3]

The Right Honourable
The Lord Rayleigh
OM PC FRS
Rayleigh in 1904
Chancellor of the University of Cambridge
In office
1908–1919
Preceded bySpencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire
Succeeded byArthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour
39th President of the Royal Society
In office
1905–1908
Preceded bySir William Huggins
Succeeded bySir Archibald Geikie
Personal details
BornJohn William Strutt
(1842-11-12)12 November 1842
Maldon, England, UKGBI
Died30 June 1919(1919-06-30) (aged 76)
Witham, England, UKGBI
Education
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge (BA, MA)
Known for
Spouse
Evelyn Balfour
​
(m. 1871)​
Children3, including Robert
FamilyBalfour (by marriage)
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions
Academic advisors
Notable students
Signature

Rayleigh provided the first theoretical treatment of the elastic scattering of light by particles much smaller than the light's wavelength, a phenomenon now known as Rayleigh scattering, which notably explains why the sky is blue. He studied and described transverse surface waves in solids, now known as Rayleigh waves. He contributed extensively to fluid dynamics, with concepts such as the Rayleigh number (a dimensionless number associated with natural convection), Rayleigh flow, the Rayleigh–Taylor instability, and Rayleigh's criterion for the stability of Taylor–Couette flow.

Rayleigh also formulated the circulation theory of aerodynamic lift. In optics, he proposed a well-known criterion for angular resolution. His derivation of the Rayleigh–Jeans law for classical black-body radiation later played an important role in the birth of quantum mechanics (see ultraviolet catastrophe). His textbook, The Theory of Sound (1877), is still used today by acousticians and engineers. He introduced the Rayleigh test for circular non-uniformity, which the Rayleigh plot visualises.

Rayleigh served as President of the Royal Society from 1905 to 1908, and as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge from 1908 until his death in 1919.

Biography

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John William Strutt was born on 12 November 1842 at Langford Grove, Maypole Road in Maldon, England,[4] the son of John James Strutt, 2nd Baron Rayleigh, and Clara Elizabeth La Touche. In his early years, he suffered from frailty and poor health.[5]

Strutt attended Eton College and Harrow School (each for only a short period), before entering Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1861, where he studied mathematics. In 1865, he received his B.A. (Senior Wrangler and Smith's Prizeman), and was elected a Fellow of Trinity College the following year. He obtained an M.A. in 1868.[6]

In 1871, Stutt resigned from his fellowship to marry Evelyn Balfour, the daughter of James Maitland Balfour, with whom he had three sons. In 1873, on the death of his father, he inherited the Barony of Rayleigh.[7]

In 1879, Rayleigh was appointed Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge. In 1883, he first described dynamic soaring by seabirds in Nature.[8] The following year, he resigned as Cavendish Professor to continue his experimental work at Terling Place.[7]

From 1887 to 1905, Rayleigh was Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution. During this period, he carefully and precisely measured atomic mass of oxygen and hydrogen, and by 1892 he moved on to nitrogen. By isolating nitrogen in different ways he discovered a small but significant difference, which indicated a heavier inert gas present in the air besides nitrogen. William Ramsay joined this research topic, and in August 1894 they discovered argon.[9][10] In 1904, Rayleigh and Ramsay were awarded the Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry, respectively; both for research related to the discovery of argon.

Around 1900, Rayleigh developed the duplex (combination of two) theory of human sound localisation using two binaural cues, interaural phase difference (IPD) and interaural level difference (ILD) (based on analysis of a spherical head with no external pinnae). The theory posits that we use two primary cues for sound lateralisation, using the difference in the phases of sinusoidal components of the sound and the difference in amplitude (level) between the two ears.

 
Caricature of Lord Rayleigh in the London magazine Vanity Fair, 1899

Rayleigh received the degree of Doctor mathematicae (honoris causa) from the Royal Frederick University on 6 September 1902, when they celebrated the centennial of the birth of mathematician Niels Abel.[11][12]

From 1905 to 1908, Rayleigh served as President of the Royal Society. From time to time, he participated in the House of Lords; however, he spoke up only if politics attempted to become involved in science.[7]

During the First World War, Rayleigh was President of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which was located at the National Physical Laboratory and chaired by Richard Glazebrook.[13]

In 1919, Rayleigh served as President of the Society for Psychical Research.[14] As an advocate that simplicity and theory be part of the scientific method, he argued for the principle of similitude.

Rayleigh died on 30 June 1919 in Witham at the age of 76,[7] and was buried in the graveyard of All Saints' Church in Terling.[15] His son Robert, a physicist, succeeded him as Baron Rayleigh.

Religious views

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Rayleigh was an Anglican. Though he did not write about the relationship between science and religion, he retained a personal interest in spiritual matters.[16] When his scientific papers were to be published in a collection by the Cambridge University Press, Strutt wanted to include a quotation from the Bible, but he was discouraged from doing so, as he later reported:

When I was bringing out my Scientific Papers I proposed a motto from the Psalms, "The Works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein." The Secretary to the Press suggested with many apologies that the reader might suppose that I was the Lord.[17][18]

Still, he had his wish and the quotation was printed in the five-volume collection of scientific papers. In a letter to a family member, he wrote about his rejection of materialism and spoke of Jesus Christ as a moral teacher:

I have never thought the materialist view possible, and I look to a power beyond what we see, and to a life in which we may at least hope to take part. What is more, I think that Christ and indeed other spiritually gifted men see further and truer than I do, and I wish to follow them as far as I can.

— Rayleigh (1910)[19][20][21]

Rayleigh held an interest in parapsychology and was an early member of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). He was not convinced of spiritualism but remained open to the possibility of supernatural phenomena.[22] Rayleigh was the president of the SPR in 1919. He gave a presidential address in the year of his death but did not come to any definite conclusions.[23][24]

Recognition

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Memberships

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Country Year Institute Type Ref.
  United Kingdom 1873 Royal Society Fellow [25]
  United States 1886 American Philosophical Society International Member [26]

Awards

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Country Year Institute Award Citation Ref.
  United Kingdom 1882 Royal Society Royal Medal "For his various papers in mathematical and experimental physics" [27]
  United Kingdom 1890 London Mathematical Society De Morgan Medal [28]
  Italy 1894 Accademia dei XL Matteucci Medal [29]
  United Kingdom 1895 Royal Society of Chemistry Faraday Lectureship Prize [30]
  United Kingdom 1899 Royal Society Copley Medal "In recognition of his contributions to physical science" [31]
  Sweden 1904 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Nobel Prize in Physics "For his investigations of the densities of the most important gases, and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies" [3]
  United Kingdom 1905 Royal Society of Arts RSA Albert Medal [32]
  United States 1913 Franklin Institute Elliott Cresson Medal "For extended researches in physical science" [33]
  United Kingdom 1914 Royal Society Rumford Medal "On the grounds of his investigations in thermodynamics and on radiation" [34]

Chivalric orders

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Country Year Monarch Order Ref.
  United Kingdom 1902 Edward VII Order of Merit [35]
  Germany 1903 Wilhelm II Pour le Mérite [36]

Commemorations

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A lunar crater, as well as a Martian crater, are named in his honour.[37][38] The asteroid 22740 Rayleigh was named after him on 1 June 2007.[39] The rayl, a unit of specific acoustic impedance, is also named for him.

Sir William Ramsay, his co-worker in the investigation to discover argon, described Rayleigh as "the greatest man alive" while speaking to Lady Ramsay during his last illness.[40]

H. M. Hyndman said of Rayleigh that "no man ever showed less consciousness of great genius".[40]

In honour of Lord Rayleigh, the Institute of Acoustics sponsors the Rayleigh Medal (established in 1970) and the Institute of Physics sponsors the John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh Medal and Prize (established in 2008).

Many of the papers that he wrote on lubrication[41] are now recognized as early classical contributions to the field of tribology. For these contributions, he was named as one of the 23 "Men of Tribology" by Duncan Dowson.[42]

There is a memorial to him by Derwent Wood in St Andrew's Chapel at Westminster Abbey.[43]

Publications

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Theory of sound, 1894
  • The Theory of Sound vol. I (London : Macmillan, 1877, 1894) (alternative link: Bibliothèque Nationale de France OR (Cambridge: University Press, reissued 2011, ISBN 978-1-108-03220-9)
  • The Theory of Sound vol.II (London : Macmillan, 1878, 1896) (alternative link: Bibliothèque Nationale de France) OR (Cambridge: University Press, reissued 2011, ISBN 978-1-108-03221-6)
  • Scientific papers (Vol. 1: 1869–1881)[44] (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, ISBN 978-0-511-70396-6)
  • Scientific papers (Vol. 2: 1881–1887)[44] (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, ISBN 978-0-511-70397-3)
  • Scientific papers (Vol. 3: 1887–1892)[44] (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, ISBN 978-0-511-70398-0)
  • Scientific papers (Vol. 4: 1892–1901)[44] (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, ISBN 978-0-511-70399-7)
  • Scientific papers (Vol. 5: 1902–1910) (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, ISBN 978-0-511-70400-0)
  • Scientific papers (Vol. 6: 1911–1919) (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, ISBN 978-0-511-70401-7)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "John Strutt". Mathematics Genealogy Project. North Dakota State University. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  2. ^ "Rayleigh". Dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2024. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
  3. ^ a b "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1904". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
  4. ^ "LANGFORD GROVE, Langford - 1111044 | Historic England".
  5. ^ "Sketch of Lord Rayleigh". The Popular Science Monthly. 25 (46). Bonnier Corporation: 840 ff. October 1884.
  6. ^ "Strutt, the Hon. John William (STRT861JW)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  7. ^ a b c d "Lord Rayleigh – Biographical". The Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 27 August 2025. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  8. ^ RAYLEIGH (1883). "The soaring of birds". Nature. 27 (701): 534–535. Bibcode:1883Natur..27..534R. doi:10.1038/027534a0. S2CID 45898842.
  9. ^ Kirkup, L.; Frenkel, R. B. (1 June 2006). An Introduction to Uncertainty in Measurement: Using the GUM (Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-45490-2.
  10. ^ Spanos, Aris (2010). "The Discovery of Argon: A Case for Learning from Data?*". Philosophy of Science. 77 (3): 359–380. doi:10.1086/652961. hdl:2022/26117. ISSN 0031-8248. JSTOR 10.1086/652961.
  11. ^ "Foreign degrees for British men of Science". The Times. No. 36867. London. 8 September 1902. p. 4.
  12. ^ "Honorary doctorates from the University of Oslo 1902–1910". (in Norwegian)
  13. ^ Lanchester, Frederick William (1916). Aircraft in Warfare. London: Constable and company Limited. p. 163.
  14. ^ "Past Presidents". Society for Psychical Research. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  15. ^ "John Strutt, Lord Rayleigh". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  16. ^ Peter J. Bowler (2014). Reconciling Science and Religion: The Debate in Early-Twentieth-Century Britain, University of Chicago Press. p. 35
  17. ^ Robert John Strutt Baron Rayleigh (1924). John William Strutt: Third Baron Rayleigh, O.M., F.R.S., Sometime President of the Royal Society and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, E. Arnold & Company, p. 307
  18. ^ Lord Rayleigh (Robert John Strutt), John William Strutt Baron Rayleigh (1964). "An Appraisal of Rayleigh", Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Office of Aerospace Research, U.S. Air Force. p. 1150.
  19. ^ Melba Phillips (1992), The Life and Times of Modern Physics: History of Physics II. American Institute of Physics. p. 50
  20. ^ As quoted in R. J. Strutt. John William Strutt. p. 361. in Reconciling Science and Religion: The Debate in Early-Twentieth-Century Britain, by Peter J. Bowler (2014). p. 35
  21. ^ Sir William Gavin (1967). Ninety Years of Family Farming: The Story of Lord Rayleigh's and Strutt & Parker Farms. Hutchinson, p. 37
  22. ^ DeYoung, Ursula. (2011). A Vision of Modern Science: John Tyndall and the Role of the Scientist in Victorian Culture. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-230-11053-3
  23. ^ Haynes, Renee. (1982). The Society for Psychical Research 1882–1982: A History. London: MacDonald & Co. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-356-07875-5
  24. ^ Lindsay, Robert Bruce. (1970). Men of Physics Lord Rayleigh–The Man and His Work. Pergamon Press. pp. 227–242. ISBN 978-1-4831-1435-4
  25. ^ "Search past Fellows". Royal Society. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  26. ^ "Member History". American Philosophical Society. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  27. ^ "Royal Medal". Royal Society. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  28. ^ "Winners of the De Morgan Medal of the LMS". MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive. University of St Andrews. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  29. ^ "Medals". Accademia dei XL. Retrieved 4 November 2025.
  30. ^ "Faraday Lectureship Prize - previous winners". Royal Society of Chemistry. Archived from the original on 8 November 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
  31. ^ "Copley Medal". Royal Society. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  32. ^ "The Albert Medal". Royal Society of Arts. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  33. ^ "John Rayleigh". Franklin Institute. Archived from the original on 9 April 2025. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  34. ^ "Rumford Medal". Royal Society. Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  35. ^ "No. 27470". The London Gazette. 2 September 1902. p. 5679.
  36. ^ "John William Strutt". www.orden-pourlemerite.de (in German). Retrieved 1 December 2025.
  37. ^ "Lunar crater Rayleigh". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
  38. ^ "Martian crater Rayleigh". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
  39. ^ JPL (2008). "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 22740 Rayleigh (1998 SX146)". NASA. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  40. ^ a b Gavin, Sir William (1967). Ninety Years of Family Farming. Hutchinson of London. p. 24.
  41. ^ Rayleigh, Lord (1918). "I. Notes on the theory of lubrication". The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 35 (205): 1–12. doi:10.1080/14786440108635730.
  42. ^ Dowson, Duncan (1 January 1979). "Men of Tribology: John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) (1842–1919) and Beauchamp Tower (1845–1904)". Journal of Lubrication Technology. 101 (1): 1–7. doi:10.1115/1.3453272. ISSN 0022-2305.
  43. ^ The Abbey Scientists, Hall, A. R. p. 59: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966
  44. ^ a b c d "Review of Scientific Papers by John William Strutt, Baron Rayleigh, Vols. I–IV". The Athenaeum (3937): 469. 11 April 1903.

Further reading

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  • Life of John William Strutt: Third Baron Rayleigh, O.M., F.R.S., (1924) Longmans, Green & Co.
A biography written by his son, Robert Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh
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