| The intent of this thesis is to demonstrate how the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University evolved from being a somewhat insulated university physics laboratory to becoming one of the most important research centers. I challenge the prevailing opinions that the Cavendish Laboratory flourished only after 1895 because non-Cambridge graduates were first introduced in the University and that the previous history was of secondary importance in accounting for the sudden expansion of the Laboratory thereafter. I argue that the influx of so-called advanced students was but one of the causes of the success of the Cavendish School. J. J. Thomson's work on the cathode rays using the newly discovered Rontgen rays, the discovery of electron, his ascendency to prominence as one of top physicists were not merely the result of the introduction of advanced students. All of these events occurred simultaneously. Such coincidences could converge to a consequential historical event because the locus of these coincidences was well-prepared. That well-prepared locus was the Cavendish Laboratory under the leadership of J. J. Thomson with its twenty-five-year previous history. I roughly divide the thesis into four parts. The first part (1871-1879) describes the context in which the Cavendish Laboratory was built, and the ideas that Maxwell, the first Cavendish Professor, intended to plant in this new institution. The second part (1880-1884) is devoted to Rayleigh's period when the major organizational development occurred. The third part (1885-1894) is on J. J. Thomson's first ten years as the third Cavendish Professor, and in it I try to prove that this seemingly unimpressive period was in fact very crucial for preparing for the birth of the Cavendish School. The last part (1895-1900) then sees the emergence of the Cavendish School. Special attention is given to Cambridge University and its milieu, since the Cavendish Laboratory was built in and evolved in this very unique environment and, above all, it was an ingredient of the University's educational system. |
