John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh

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**Lord Rayleigh** <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">Image:John William Strutt.jpg
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh</td></tr>
Born	12 November 1842 Langford Grove, Maldon, Essex, UK <tr><th>Died</th><td>30 June 1919 Terling Place, Witham, Essex, UK</td></tr><tr><th>Residence</th><td>Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg UK</td></tr><tr><th>Nationality</th><td>Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg English</td></tr><tr><th>Field</th><td>Physicist</td></tr><tr><th>Institution</th><td>University of Cambridge</td></tr><tr><th>Alma Mater</th><td>University of Cambridge</td></tr><tr><th>Academic Advisor</th><td>Edward John Routh</td></tr><tr><th>Notable Students</th><td>J. J. Thomson Image:Nobel.png </br>George Paget Thomson Image:Nobel.png</td></tr><tr><th>Known for</th><td>Discovery of argon</br> Rayleigh waves</br>Rayleigh scattering</br> Rayleigh criterion</td></tr><tr><th>Notable Prizes</th><td>Image:Nobel.png Nobel Prize for Physics (1904)</td></tr>

John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh (12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English physicist who (with William Ramsay) discovered the element argon, an achievement that earned him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1904. He also discovered the phenomenon now called Rayleigh scattering and predicted the existence of the surface waves now known as Rayleigh waves.

1 Biography
2 Prizes
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References and further reading

[edit] Biography

Strutt was born in Langford Grove in Essex and in his early years he suffered frailty and poor health.

He went to Harrow School and began studying mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1861 and graduated in 1865. He was subsequently elected to a Fellowship of Trinity. He held the post until his marriage to Evelyn Balfour in 1871. He had three sons with her.

In 1873 his father, the 2nd Baron Rayleigh, died, and he inherited the Barony of Rayleigh.

He was the second Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge, following James Clerk Maxwell in this position from 1879 to 1884.

Approximately 1900 Lord Rayleigh Developed the Duplex (combination of two) Theory. Human sound localization using two binaural cues. Interaural time delay (ITD) and interaural level difference (ILD) (assuming a spherical head with no external pinnae.) Humans percieve sound objects spatially, using the difference in pitch(frequency/time delay) of the sound and the difference in amplitude(level) between the two ears, in a similar way that stereoscopic sight provides depth perception. Also called two primary cues for azimuth (horzontal location) but possibly its two primary cues for a 3 dimensional bearing. For example when you hear a seagull call out you can determine roughly x y and z location of the sound. Although Pinnae reflections are considered a main cue for vertical localisation.

Lord Rayleigh was president of the Royal Society between 1905 and 1908.

Lord Rayleigh died on June 30, 1919 in Witham, Essex.

Craters on Mars and the Moon are named in his honor as well as a type of surface wave known as a Rayleigh wave.

[edit] Prizes

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

[edit] References and further reading

Nobel website bio of Rayleigh
About John William Strutt
O'Connor, John J., and Edmund F. Robertson. "John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive.
Rayleigh Instability of Nanowires - a kinetic Monte Carlo simulation

Honorary Titles
Preceded by: The Lord Carlingford	Lord Lieutenant of Essex 1892–1901	Succeeded by: The Earl of Warwick
Preceded by: William Huggins	President of the Royal Society 1905–1908	Succeeded by: Sir Archibald Geikie
Preceded by: The Duke of Devonshire	Chancellor of the University of Cambridge 1908–1919	Succeeded by: Arthur Balfour
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: John Strutt	Baron Rayleigh 1873–1919	Succeeded by: Robert Strutt