John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh

Strutt was born on 12 November 1842 at Langford Grove, Maypole Road in Maldon, Essex.{{cite web | url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1111044?section=official-list-entry | title=LANGFORD GROVE, Langford - 1111044 | Historic England }} In his early years he suffered from frailty and poor health.{{cite journal |journal=The Popular Science Monthly |title=Sketch of Lord Rayleigh |pages=840 ff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fiwDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA840 |date=October 1884 |volume=25 |issue=46 |publisher=Bonnier Corporation}} He attended Eton College and Harrow School (each for only a short period), before going on to the University of Cambridge in 1861 where he studied mathematics at Trinity College. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree (Senior Wrangler and 1st Smith's Prize) in 1865, and a Master of Arts in 1868.

{{acad

|id=STRT861JW

|name=Strutt, the Hon. John William

}} He was subsequently elected to a fellowship of Trinity. He held the post until his marriage to Evelyn Balfour, daughter of James Maitland Balfour, in 1871. He had three sons with her.One son, Robert Strutt, 4th Baron Rayleigh, was also an eminent physicist and fellow of the Royal Society.

{{cite web

| year=1904

| title=Lord Rayleigh: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1904

| url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1904/strutt-bio.html

| publisher=The Nobel Foundation

| access-date=5 May 2010

}} In 1873, on the death of his father, John Strutt, 2nd Baron Rayleigh, he inherited the Barony of Rayleigh. Rayleigh was elected fellow of the Royal Society on 12 June 1873.

Rayleigh was the second Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge (following James Clerk Maxwell), from 1879 to 1884. He first described dynamic soaring by seabirds in 1883, in the British journal Nature.{{cite journal|author-last=RAYLEIGH|author-link=John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh|title=The soaring of birds|journal=Nature|year=1883|volume=27|issue=701|pages=534–535|doi=10.1038/027534a0|bibcode=1883Natur..27..534R|s2cid=45898842|doi-access=free}} From 1887 to 1905 he was professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution.

On this post 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 they discovered argon.{{Cite book |last1=Kirkup |first1=L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi3AwDdzg8cC&pg=PA5 |title=An Introduction to Uncertainty in Measurement: Using the GUM (Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement) |last2=Frenkel |first2=R. B. |date=2006-06-01 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-45490-2 |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Spanos |first=Aris |date=2010 |title=The Discovery of Argon: A Case for Learning from Data?* |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/652961 |journal=Philosophy of Science |volume=77 |issue=3 |pages=359–380 |doi=10.1086/652961 |jstor=10.1086/652961 |issn=0031-8248|hdl=2022/26117 |hdl-access=free }}

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.

File:Lord Rayleigh Vanity Fair 21 December 1899.jpg, 1899]]

He 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 Henrik Abel.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Foreign degrees for British men of Science |date=8 September 1902 |page=4 |issue=36867}}{{cite web|url=http://www.uio.no/om/tall-og-fakta/aresdoktorer/tidligere-aresdoktorer/1902-1910/ |title=Honorary doctorates from the University of Oslo 1902–1910}} (in Norwegian)

In 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics "for his investigations of the densities of the most important gases and for his discovery of argon in connection with these studies".

During the First World War, he was president of the government's Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which was located at the National Physical Laboratory, and chaired by Richard Glazebrook.{{Cite book| publisher=Constable and company Limited |last=Lanchester |first=Frederick William |author-link= Frederick W. Lanchester |title=Aircraft in Warfare |location= London |year=1916 |page=[https://archive.org/details/aircraftinwarfa00lancgoog/page/n211 163]|title-link=:s:Aircraft in Warfare (1916) }}

In 1919, Rayleigh served as president of the Society for Psychical Research.{{cite web|title=Past Presidents|url=http://www.spr.ac.uk/page/past-presidents-parapsychology|publisher=Society for Psychical Research|access-date=19 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223112644/http://www.spr.ac.uk/page/past-presidents-parapsychology|archive-date=23 February 2015|df=dmy-all}} As an advocate that simplicity and theory be part of the scientific method, Rayleigh argued for the principle of similitude.

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

Rayleigh married Evelyn Georgiana Mary (née Balfour). He died on 30 June 1919, at his home in Witham, Essex.{{cite web |title=John Strutt, Lord Rayleigh |url=https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/john-strutt-lord-rayleigh |website=Westminster Abbey |access-date=7 May 2019 |language=en}} He was succeeded, as the 4th Lord Rayleigh, by his son Robert John Strutt, another well-known physicist. Lord Rayleigh was buried in the graveyard of All Saints' Church in Terling in Essex.

Rayleigh was an Anglican. Though he did not write about the relationship of science and religion, he retained a personal interest in spiritual matters.Peter J. Bowler (2014). Reconciling Science and Religion: The Debate in Early-Twentieth-Century Britain, University of Chicago Press. p. 35 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:

{{Blockquote|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.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. 307Lord 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.}}

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:

{{Blockquote|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)Melba Phillips (1992), The Life and Times of Modern Physics: History of Physics II. American Institute of Physics. p. 50As 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. 35Sir William Gavin (1967). Ninety Years of Family Farming: The Story of Lord Rayleigh's and Strutt & Parker Farms. Hutchinson, p. 37}}

He 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.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}} 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.Haynes, Renee. (1982). The Society for Psychical Research 1882–1982: A History. London: MacDonald & Co. p. 198. {{ISBN|978-0-356-07875-5}}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}}

The lunar crater Rayleigh as well as the Martian crater Rayleigh were named in his honour.{{GPN|4966|name=Lunar crater Rayleigh}}{{GPN|4967|name=Martian crater Rayleigh}} The asteroid 22740 Rayleigh was named after him on 1 June 2007.

{{cite web

| author=JPL

| title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 22740 Rayleigh (1998 SX146)

| url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=22740

| publisher=NASA

| year=2008

| access-date=23 July 2008

| author-link=Jet Propulsion Laboratory

}} A type of surface waves are known as Rayleigh waves, and the elastic scattering of electromagnetic waves is called Rayleigh scattering. The rayl, a unit of specific acoustic impedance, is also named for him. Rayleigh was also awarded with (in chronological order):

• Smith's Prize (1864)
• Royal Medal (1882)
• Member of the American Philosophical Society (1886)
• Matteucci Medal (1894)
• Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1897)
• Copley Medal (1899)
• Nobel Prize in Physics (1904)
• Elliott Cresson Medal (1913)
• Rumford Medal (1914)

Lord Rayleigh was among the original recipients of the Order of Merit (OM) in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Coronation Honours |date=26 June 1902 |page=5 |issue=36804}} and received the order from King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 8 August 1902.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Court Circular |date=9 August 1902 |page=6 |issue=36842}}{{London Gazette|issue=27470|page=5679|date=2 September 1902|}}

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.{{Cite book|title=Ninety Years of Family Farming|last=Gavin|first=Sir William|publisher=Hutchinson of London|year=1967|pages=24}}

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

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{{Cite journal|last=Rayleigh|first=Lord|date=1918|title=I. Notes on the theory of lubrication|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14786440108635730|journal=The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science|language=en|volume=35|issue=205|pages=1–12|doi=10.1080/14786440108635730|via=}} 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.{{Cite journal|last=Dowson|first=Duncan|date=1979-01-01|title=Men of Tribology: John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh) (1842–1919) and Beauchamp Tower (1845–1904)|url=https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/tribology/article/101/1/1/430997/Men-of-Tribology-John-William-Strutt-Lord-Rayleigh|journal=Journal of Lubrication Technology|language=en|volume=101|issue=1|pages=1–7|doi=10.1115/1.3453272|issn=0022-2305|doi-access=free}}

There is a memorial to him by Derwent Wood in St Andrew's Chapel at Westminster Abbey.The Abbey Scientists, Hall, A. R. p. 59: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966

File:Rayleigh, John William Strutt – Theory of sound, 1894 – BEIC 6738003.jpg

• [https://archive.org/details/theorysound00raylgoog The Theory of Sound vol. I] (London : Macmillan, 1877, 1894) (alternative link: [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k951307 Bibliothèque Nationale de France] OR (Cambridge: University Press, reissued 2011, {{ISBN|978-1-108-03220-9}})
• [https://archive.org/details/theorysound05raylgoog The Theory of Sound vol.II] (London : Macmillan, 1878, 1896) (alternative link: [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k95131k Bibliothèque Nationale de France]) OR (Cambridge: University Press, reissued 2011, {{ISBN|978-1-108-03221-6}})
• [https://archive.org/details/scientificpaper01raylgoog Scientific papers (Vol. 1: 1869–1881)]{{cite journal |title=Review of Scientific Papers by John William Strutt, Baron Rayleigh, Vols. I–IV|journal=The Athenaeum |issue=3937 |date=April 11, 1903|pages=469|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oKA5AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA469}} (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-511-70396-6}})
• [https://archive.org/details/scientificpapers02rayliala Scientific papers (Vol. 2: 1881–1887)] (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-511-70397-3}})
• [https://archive.org/details/scientificpapers03rayliala Scientific papers (Vol. 3: 1887–1892)] (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-511-70398-0}})
• [https://archive.org/details/scientificpapers04rayliala Scientific papers (Vol. 4: 1892–1901)] (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-511-70399-7}})
• [https://archive.org/details/scientificpapers05rayliala Scientific papers (Vol. 5: 1902–1910)] (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-511-70400-0}})
• [https://archive.org/details/scientificpapers06rayliala Scientific papers (Vol. 6: 1911–1919)] (Cambridge : University Press, 1899–1920, reissued by the publisher 2011, {{ISBN|978-0-511-70401-7}})

{{main|List of things named after Lord Rayleigh}}

{{div col|content=

• Acoustic levitation
• Acoustic radiation pressure
• Aeolian harp
• Breath-figure self-assembly
• Calibrated airspeed
• Capillary breakup rheometry
• Clark cell
• Dawes' limit
• Extremal principles in non-equilibrium thermodynamics
• Eigenvalue perturbation
• Group velocity
• Hanle effect
• Helmholtz minimum dissipation theorem
• Laminar–turbulent transition
• Langmuir–Blodgett trough
• List of presidents of the Royal Society
• Machmeter
• Moffatt eddies
• Multiple scattering theory
• Parametric oscillator
• Rayl, a unit of specific acoustic impedance.
• Rayleigh frequency
• Rayleigh–Sommerfeld diffraction theory
• Rayleigh mixture distribution
• Rayleigh Medal (Institute of Acoustics)
• [[Institute of Physics Awards|Rayleigh Medal (Institute of

Physics)]]

• Rayleigh bandwidth (signal processing)
• Rayleigh quotient iteration
• Rayleigh's quotient in vibrations analysis
• Rayleigh sky model
• Representative layer theory
• Talbot effect
• Thermoacoustics
• Thermoacoustic heat engine
• Virial theorem
• Waveguide (acoustics)
• Waveguide (radio frequency)
• WKB approximation}}

{{Reflist}}

• 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

{{Commons|John William Strutt}}

{{Wikiquote|John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh}}

{{wikisource author}}

• [http://www.nobel-winners.com/Physics/john_william_strutt.html About John William Strutt]
• {{MacTutor Biography|id=Rayleigh}}
• [https://archive.today/20130411013600/https://googledrive.com/host/0B-UggpdTDpJEQVlHcUtSOUZ6eGM/GECReviewv7n3p167.htm Lord Rayleigh – the Last of the Great Victorian Polymaths, GEC Review, Volume 7, No. 3, 1992]
• {{Internet Archive author |sname=John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh}}
• {{Nobelprize|name=Lord Rayleigh}}

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