Natural Philosophy Collection

Professor R.V. Jones held the Chair of Natural Philosophy (the historic name for Physics) at the University of Aberdeen from 1946 to 1981. Although he is still best known and honoured for his work co-ordinating scientific intelligence during the second world war, he devoted much of his academic career to scientific instrument design. After the war, this was perceived to be a topic of national importance. Both the advancement of science and the health of our technical industries were judged to depend on the development of novel instrumentation. Professor Jones devoted himself to improving the sensitivity of instruments. He was so successful that he was able to reach the limits of what is physically achievable. These limits are caused by the random motion of air molecules striking the most sensitive parts of the apparatus or, in extreme cases, the randomness of light striking the instrument. He achieved these advances by careful attention to good design principles and painstaking attention to detail such as isolation from extraneous disturbances, appropriate choice of material and accurate construction. In the University he established probably the best instrument workshop in Scotland. Like most pioneering technical developers, he did not follow the recipe books but effectively wrote them himself. Professor Jones' complete instruments all used custom-built electronic amplifiers, designed by Dr J.C.S. Richards, to achieve optimum amplification of the tiny electronic signals generated by the tiny effects observed. The instruments on display include a capacitance micrometer, capable of measuring displacements of less than one atom's width, a microbarograph for measuring very small air pressure fluctuations, a compact accelerometer for measuring very small accelerations of the ground caused by distant earthquakes or explosions, and his very sensitive 'tiltmeter'. This last instrument clearly measured the tilt of the ground under Aberdeen due to the extra weight of water in the nearby North Sea when high tide came in.

For centuries physicists at the foreground of research have invented their own instruments. Professor Jones carried on this tradition in Aberdeen at the highest level of academic and technical competence. The instruments he designed were not sold commercially but were research instruments, made to inhabit the pillars and tables of his scientific laboratory.