Lord Rayleigh, Nobel Prize for discovering argon and the densities of atmospheric gases

November 12, 1842, Langford Grove (United Kingdom) – June 30, 1919, Witham (United Kingdom)

John William Strutt, better known as Lord Rayleigh, as he was the 3rd Baron of Rayleigh.

In 1865, he graduated in mathematics from Trinity College, Cambridge University. In 1879, he began work as Professor of Experimental Physics at Cambridge University and as Director of the Cavendish Laboratory for Experimental Physics (1879-1884).

In 1877-1878, he published two volumes of "The Theory of Sound", describing a method for measuring acoustic vibrations.

In 1887, he moved to London, to be Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution until 1905. During his stay there, he was secretary of the Royal Society of London (1887-1896) and later its president (1905-1908).

He also served as Governor of the County of Essex (1892-1901) at the express wish of the King and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (1908-1919).

His research ranges from sound to the polarization of light, the theory of black body radiation, the determination of electrical units of measurement, light in general, electricity, resonance dynamics, vibrations of gases, and elastic solids to explain why the sky is blue.

However, his most important scientific works were the determination of the densities of atmospheric gases (studying the difference in the density of nitrogen in the air and that of ammonium nitrate) and the discovery of argon in 1894, together with Sir William Ramsay. For both, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1904.