Frank Philip Bowden
{{short description|Australian physicist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Professor Frank Bowden
| birth_name = Frank Philip Bowden
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1903|5|2}}
| birth_place = Hobart, Tasmania
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1968|9|3|1903|5|2}}
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| alma_mater = University of Tasmania {{small|(B.S., 1925)(M.S., 1927)}}
University of Cambridge {{small|(Ph.D., 1929)}}
| thesis_title = The mechanism of electrode reactions
| thesis_url = http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=35440
| thesis_year = 1929
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| awards = Elliott Cresson Medal {{small|(1955)}}
Rumford Medal {{small|(1956)}}
Fellow of the Royal Society{{Cite journal | last1 = Tabor | first1 = D. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1969.0001 | title = Frank Philip Bowden 1903-1968 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 15 | pages = 1–48 | year = 1969 | s2cid = 71069997 }}
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}}Frank Philip Bowden CBE FRS (2 May 1903 – 3 September 1968) was an Australian physicist.
Early life
He was born in Hobart, Tasmania, the son of telegraph engineer Frank Prosser Bowden.
Bowden received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tasmania in Australia in 1925, a Master of Science degree there in 1927 and a Doctor of Science (D.Sc) degree in 1933, by which time he was working at the University of Cambridge in England.{{cite web|url=http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/biogs/P000247b.htm|title=Bowden, Frank Philip - Bright Sparks entry|access-date=2009-01-25}} He gained his PhD from Cambridge in 1929.
Career
Between 1931 and 1939, Bowden worked as a lecturer in physical chemistry at the University of Cambridge. He moved back to Australia in 1939 to work at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. He returned to Britain in 1946 as a reader in physical chemistry.
In 1957, Bowden became Reader of Physics at Cambridge, and in 1966 became the Professor of Surface Physics. He made significant contributions to the field of tribology and he received the International Award from the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers in 1955.{{Cite web|title=International Award {{!}} STLE|url=https://www.stle.org/files/Awards/International.aspx|access-date=2021-01-20|website=www.stle.org|archive-date=2021-01-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128120632/https://www.stle.org/files/Awards/International.aspx|url-status=dead}} He was also named as one of 23 "Men of Tribology" by Duncan Dowson.{{Cite journal|last=Dowson|first=Duncan|date=1977-10-01|title=Men of Tribology: Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)|url=https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/tribology/article/99/4/382/429918/Men-of-Tribology-Leonardo-da-Vinci-1452-1519|journal=Journal of Lubrication Technology|language=en|volume=99|issue=4|pages=382–386|doi=10.1115/1.3453230|issn=0022-2305|doi-access=free}} Much of Bowden's tribology research was performed alongside David Tabor,{{Cite journal|last1=Bowden|first1=Frank Philip|last2=Tabor|first2=David|date=1939|title=The area of contact between stationary and moving surfaces|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences|volume=169|issue=938|pages=391–413|doi=10.1098/rspa.1939.0005|doi-access=}}{{Cite journal|last1=Bowden|first1=F. P.|last2=Tabor|first2=D.|date=1942|title=Mechanism of Metallic Friction|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/150197a0|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=150|issue=3798|pages=197–199|doi=10.1038/150197a0|s2cid=4095803 |issn=1476-4687|via=}}{{Cite journal|last1=Bowden|first1=F. P.|last2=Moore|first2=A. J. W.|last3=Tabor|first3=D.|date=1943|title=The Ploughing and Adhesion of Sliding Metals|url=https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.1714954|journal=Journal of Applied Physics|volume=14|issue=2|pages=80–91|doi=10.1063/1.1714954|issn=0021-8979|via=}}{{Cite journal|last1=Bowden|first1=F. P.|last2=Gregory|first2=J. N.|last3=Tabor|first3=D.|date=1945|title=Lubrication of Metal Surfaces by Fatty Acids|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/156097a0|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=156|issue=3952|pages=97–101|doi=10.1038/156097a0|s2cid=4116167 |issn=1476-4687|via=}}{{Cite journal|last1=Bowden|first1=F P|last2=Tabor|first2=D|date=1966|title=Friction, lubrication and wear: a survey of work during the last decade|url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0508-3443/17/12/301|journal=British Journal of Applied Physics|language=en|volume=17|issue=12|pages=1521–1544|doi=10.1088/0508-3443/17/12/301|issn=0508-3443|via=}} with whom he published his popular book 'The Friction and Lubrication of Solids
Private life
He married Tasmanian Margot Hutchison in London in 1931. They had 3 sons and a daughter.{{cite web|url=https://www.smf.phy.cam.ac.uk/files/Bowdenobit.pdf|title=Biographical memoirs-Frank Philip Bowden. 1903-1968|date=8 November 2013 |publisher= Jstor|access-date= 23 May 2018}}
Honours and awards
- 1938 Awarded Beilby Medal and Prize by the Royal Society of Chemistry{{cite web|url=http://www.rsc.org/ScienceAndTechnology/Awards/Beilby/winners.asp|title=Beilby Medal and Prize Previous Winners |publisher= Royal Society of Chemistry|access-date= 23 May 2018}}
- 1948 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.{{cite web| url= http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27bowden%27%29| title= Library and Archive Catalogue| publisher= Royal Society| access-date= 18 December 2010}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
- 1955 Awarded the Franklin Institute's Elliott Cresson Medal.
- 1955 Awarded the International Award from the STLE.
- 1956 Awarded CBE in the 1956 Birthday Honours.{{London Gazette |issue=40787 |date=25 May 1956 |page=3109|supp=y}}
- 1956 Awarded the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society "In recognition of his distinguished work on the nature of friction".{{cite web|url=http://royalsociety.org/page.asp?id=1747|title=Rumford archive winners 1988 - 1900|publisher=The Royal Society|access-date=2009-01-25}}
- 1968 Awarded the Glazebrook Medal of the Institute of Physics
- 1968 Awarded the Bernard Lewis Gold Medal of the Combustion Institute
References
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Category:20th-century British physicists
Category:20th-century British engineers
Category:British mechanical engineers
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Academics of the University of Cambridge
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:University of Tasmania alumni