# Denys Wilkinson > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Denys_Wilkinson > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Denys_Wilkinson.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denys_Wilkinson > Source revision: 1332208937 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British nuclear physicist (1922–2016)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Use British English|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Denys Wilkinson | image = | birth_name = Denys Haigh Wilkinson | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1922|09|5}} | birth_place = [Leeds](/source/Leeds), England | death_date = {{death date and age |df=yes|2016|04|22|1922|09|5}} | death_place = | fields = [Nuclear physics](/source/Nuclear_physics) | workplaces = | alma_mater = [Jesus College, Cambridge](/source/Jesus_College%2C_Cambridge) | doctoral_students = [Samar Mubarakmand](/source/Samar_Mubarakmand) }} [[File:Denys Wilkinson Building, University of Oxford - Banbury Road.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The [Denys Wilkinson Building](/source/Denys_Wilkinson_Building), part of the [Department of Physics](/source/Department_of_Physics%2C_University_of_Oxford) at [Oxford University](/source/Oxford_University).]] '''Sir Denys Haigh Wilkinson''' [FRS](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) (5 September 1922 – 22 April 2016) was a British [nuclear physicist](/source/nuclear_physicist). == Life == Wilkinson was born on 5 September 1922 in [Leeds](/source/Leeds), [Yorkshire](/source/Yorkshire) and educated at [Loughborough Grammar School](/source/Loughborough_Grammar_School) and [Jesus College](/source/Jesus_College%2C_Cambridge), [Cambridge](/source/Cambridge_University), graduating in 1943.{{cite web|title=The Papers of Sir Denys Wilkinson|url=https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1899|url-status=live|website=Archivesearch|publisher=Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge University|accessdate=2016-04-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211004225424/https://archivesearch.lib.cam.ac.uk/repositories/9/resources/1899 |archive-date=4 October 2021 }} After wartime work on the British and Canadian Atomic Energy projects, he returned to Cambridge in 1946, where he was awarded a PhD in 1947 and held posts culminating as Reader in Nuclear Physics from 1956{{ndash}}1957. From 1944 to 1959, he was a fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. He was made a [Fellow of the Royal Society](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society) in 1956.{{cite web|title=Denys Wilkinson|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/denys-wilkinson-12530/|publisher=The Royal Society|accessdate=2016-04-30}} In 1957 he went to the [University of Oxford](/source/University_of_Oxford) as Professor of Nuclear Physics, and won the [Fernand Holweck Medal and Prize](/source/Fernand_Holweck_Medal_and_Prize) the same year. In 1959 he became Professor of Experimental Physics at Oxford, and from 1962 to 1976 was head of the Department of Nuclear Physics. While he held his professorship at Oxford, he was a Fellow (there called a Student) of [Christ Church, Oxford](/source/Christ_Church%2C_Oxford). He was [knighted](/source/Knight_Bachelor) in 1974.{{London Gazette|issue=46430|page=12745|date=13 December 1974}} In 2001 the Nuclear Physics Laboratory at the University of Oxford, which he had helped to create, was renamed the [Denys Wilkinson Building](/source/Denys_Wilkinson_Building) in his honour.[http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/pp/dwb/dwb.htm Oxford Physics – Denys Wilkinson Building] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927115521/http://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/pp/dwb/dwb.htm |date=27 September 2011 }} Wilkinson served as chairman for both the Physics III Committee{{cite report|title=80th Meeting of Scientific Policy Committee : Minutes |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/1124526 |publisher=CERN |docket=CERN/SPC/0361 |access-date=29 September 2017}} and the Electronic Experiments Committee at [CERN](/source/CERN).{{cite report|title=82nd Meeting of Scientific Policy Committee : Draft minutes |url=https://cds.cern.ch/record/59215 |publisher=CERN |docket=CERN/SPC/0366/Draft |access-date=29 September 2017}} On leaving Oxford, he served as vice-chancellor of the [University of Sussex](/source/University_of_Sussex) from 1976 to 1987. After his retirement, he was appointed emeritus professor of physics at Sussex in 1987. Wilkinson's work in nuclear physics included investigation of the properties of nuclei with low numbers of nucleons. He was amongst the first to experimentally test rules relating to [isospin](/source/isospin). He also applied concepts from physics to the study of bird navigation. He is also notable for the invention of the [Wilkinson](/source/Wilkinson_ADC) [analog-to-digital converter](/source/analog-to-digital_converter), to support his experimental work. He died on 22 April 2016 at the age of 93.{{cite web|title=University of Sussex's third Vice-Chancellor Sir Denys Wilkinson passes away on 22 April 2016|url=http://m.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/35377|publisher=University of Sussex|accessdate=2016-04-30}}{{Dead link|date=January 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} His papers are held at the [Churchill Archives Centre](/source/Churchill_Archives_Centre) in Cambridge. He was an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge from 1961, and an Honorary Student of Christ Church, Oxford from 1979. He won the [Hughes Medal](/source/Hughes_Medal) of the Royal Society in 1965 and the [Royal Medal](/source/Royal_Medal) in 1980.{{cite web|title=Award Winners [of Hughes Medal]|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dsunM9ukGLgaW3HdG9cvJ_QKd7pWjGI0qi_fCb1ROD4/pubhtml?gid=574087718&single=true|publisher=Royal Society|accessdate=2016-04-30}}{{cite web|title=Award Winners [of Royal Medal]|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dsunM9ukGLgaW3HdG9cvJ_QKd7pWjGI0qi_fCb1ROD4/pubhtml?gid=1640032608&single=true|publisher=Royal Society|accessdate=2016-04-30}} In 1980 he received an [honorary doctorate](/source/Honorary_degree) from the Faculty of Mathematics and Science at [Uppsala University](/source/Uppsala_University), Sweden.{{Cite web|url=http://www.uu.se/en/about-uu/traditions/prizes/honorary-doctorates/|title = Honorary doctorates – Uppsala University, Sweden| date=9 June 2023 }} == References == {{Reflist}} == External links == * {{cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.112080|chapter=Sir Denys Haigh Wilkinson|title=[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography](/source/Oxford_Dictionary_of_National_Biography)|first=Roger|last=Cashmore|year=2020}} * [http://artuk.org/discover/artworks/sir-denys-wilkinson-72973 Portrait] (1990), by Keith Clements, held at the University of Sussex {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Denys Haigh}} Category:1922 births Category:2016 deaths Category:People educated at Loughborough Grammar School Category:Scientists from Leeds Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Category:English nuclear physicists Category:British nuclear physicists Category:Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford Category:Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge Category:Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Physics Category:Presidents of the Institute of Physics Category:Academics of the University of Sussex Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Royal Medal winners Category:People associated with CERN Category:British expatriates in Canada Category:British fellows of the Royal Society --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Denys Wilkinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denys_Wilkinson) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denys_Wilkinson?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.