Thomas Gerald Pickavance, 19 October 1915 - 12 November 1991

Abstract

Thomas Gerald Pickavance was a leading authority on the design of particle accelerators for high-energy physics and was responsible for the construction of the most powerful accelerator built in this country, at the Rutherford Laboratory of which he was Director. He is chiefly remembered for the skilful, unselfish and unsparing way he made research facilities available for his fellow nuclear physicists and helped them to solve the problems of using large accelerators away from their universities. While Director for Nuclear Physics at the Science Research Council he played a major part in ensuring that the 300 GeV proton synchrotron at CERN was supported by this country and thus made available for the continued pursuit of high-energy physics here. He was elected to the Fellowship in the first year of his Suspension.