Who is this man?
Last week a member of the Faculty of Natural and Mathematical Sciences brought in a very large, old, framed photograph which had been hanging in the Physics Department for many years. Sadly, no one in the Department knew who it was of but they felt it might be of interest to us here in the Archives.
My difficultly was trying to identify the young man in the portrait. Judging by his clothes, his moustache and his hairstyle, I estimated that the picture was probably taken around 1900-1910. It was a large photograph in a very fancy frame so he must have been important. So, who was he?
Well, I believe it is an early photograph of Charles Glover Barkla who was appointed to the Chair of Physics in 1909. He remained at King’s for four years during which time he published extensively on his research into x-rays. Barkla then moved to Edinburgh and in 1917 he was awarded a Nobel Prize for this work.
Here is a later photograph of Barkla for comparison:
[By George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons]
Am I right, have we found a photograph of Charles Barkla in his 20s?
by Frances Pattman, Archives Services Officer