George Dawson Preston

{{short description|British physicist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''George Dawson Preston''' FRSE (8 August 1896 – 22 June 1972) was a 20th century British physicist specialising in crystallography and the structure of alloys. He was one of the first to use x-rays and electron diffraction to study the crystal structure of metals and alloys. Along with André Guinier, Preston gives his name to the '''Guinier-Preston zone''', discovered in 1938.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/madetomeasure/scientists/#preston|title=Notable Scientists at Dundee University : Museum : University of Dundee|access-date=16 January 2018|archive-date=30 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160830202715/http://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/exhibitions/madetomeasure/scientists/#preston|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="DundeeArchive">{{cite web |title=RU 818/13 Notebook sent by Andre Guinier to G D Preston |url=https://arccat.dundee.ac.uk/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28RefNo%3D%27RU%20818%2F13%27%29 |website=Archive Services Online Catalogue |publisher=University of Dundee |accessdate=26 July 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=O.B.M. Hardouind Duparc: The Preston of the Guinier-Preston Zones. Guinier. MMT A 2010 41 1873-1882. |doi=10.1007/s11661-010-0320-5 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11661-010-0320-5}}</ref>

==Life== He was born in the village of Rathgar slightly south of Dublin on 8 August 1896 the eldest son of Prof Thomas Preston FRS, and the college head, Katherine Mary (born McEwen).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Preston, George Dawson {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/preston-george-dawson-a7486 |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=www.dib.ie |language=en}}</ref> His father died when George was only four years old. He was educated at Oundle School in Northamptonshire.

In the First World War he served in the Princess of Wales' Own Regiment and was wounded in the leg.

He studied natural sciences at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating MA then gaining a postgraduate doctorate (DSc) in 1921.<ref>{{Who's Who | title=PRESTON, Prof. George Dawson | id = U158630 | type = was | volume = 2023 | edition = online}}</ref> He found immediate employment in the Metallurgy Division of the National Physical Laboratory. He stayed there until 1943 when he replaced William Peddie as Professor of Physics at University College, Dundee.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1944. His proposers were Edward Thomas Copson, Charles Alfred Coulson, Robert Campbell Garry and Alexander David Peacock.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=2018-01-16|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He died in Meigle, Perthshire on 22 June 1972.

==Family== In 1923 he married Margaret Chrystal.

They were parents of George Dawson Chrystal Preston (b.1931).

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, George Dawson}} Category:1896 births Category:1972 deaths Category:People educated at Oundle School Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Category:Academics of the University of Dundee Category:People from Rathgar Category:20th-century British physicists