Boris Davison
Boris Davison | |
|---|---|
| Born | Boris Borisovich Davison 7 October 1908 Vasilsursk, Gorky Oblast, Russia |
| Died | 24 January 1961 (aged 52) Toronto, Canada |
| Alma mater | |
| Spouse |
Olga Hansen (m. 1946) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | |
| Institutions | |
Boris Davison (7 October 1908 – 24 January 1961) was a Russian-born mathematical physicist.
Biography[edit]
Boris Borisovich Davison was born 7 October 1908 in Vasilsursk, Gorky Oblast, Russia.[1] He attended Leningrad State University, graduating in 1931.[2][1] He then worked at the State Hydrological Institute.
Davison's grandfather had been British, and in 1938 Davison was given a choice – either renounce his British nationality or leave the Soviet Union. He chose to emigrate to the United Kingdom.[2][1] He then briefly worked with Louis Rosenhead at the University of Liverpool but withdrew from work due to illness.[1][2]
In 1942 he joined the University of Birmingham's atomic energy research team working under Rudolf Peierls, and in 1944 the university awarded him a PhD.[2][1]
In 1943 he moved to Canada to work under George Placzek at the Montreal Laboratory of the joint British-Canadian atomic energy project.[2][1][3] In October 1945 he briefly joined the British Mission at Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, part of the Manhattan Project which had just developed the atom bomb.[4] In 1946 Davison married Olga Hansen.[5]
He worked at Chalk River Laboratory in Ontario before returning to the UK in 1947 to work at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, Oxfordshire.[2][1]
In 1953 his security clearance was revoked by the British government because his parents still lived in the Soviet Union, potentially putting Davison at risk of blackmail.[6] He was given a year's leave of absence working at the University of Birmingham.[7][4] Davison then emigrated to Canada in 1954, where he took up a position at the computation centre at the University of Toronto.[3][4]
In 1957 he authored the book Neutron Transport Theory.[2]
Davison died suddenly at his home in Toronto on 24 January 1961 at the age of 52.[5][2][8]
Books[edit]
- Boris, Davison (1957). Neutron Transport Theory. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-851207-3.
- Davison, B. (1979). Collected Papers of Boris Davison. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g Hager, Willi (21 March 2014). Hydraulicians in Europe 1800-2000: Volume 2. CRC Press. p. 1375. ISBN 978-1-4665-5498-6.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Watson, W. H. (April 1961). "Prof. B. Davison". Nature. 190 (4773): 306–307. Bibcode:1961Natur.190..306W. doi:10.1038/190306b0. ISSN 0028-0836. S2CID 4275244.
- ^ a b "Boris Davison". Physics Today. 14 (5): 76. 1 May 1961. doi:10.1063/1.3057579. ISSN 0031-9228.
- ^ a b c Szasz, Ferenc Morton (1992). British Scientists and the Manhattan Project. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 134. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-12731-3. ISBN 978-1-349-12733-7.
- ^ a b "Boris Davison". The Gazette. 28 January 1961. p. 39 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Positively Vet". Time. 7 September 1953. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
- ^ "British A-Scientist Given Year's Leave". The Washington Post. 26 August 1953. p. 1.
- ^ "Campus News Briefs". The Varsity. Toronto. 27 January 1961. p. 2.
Further reading[edit]
- Kushneriuk, S. A. (October 1976). A Bibliography of the Publications of Boris Davison (PDF). Chalk River: Atomic Energy of Canada.
- 1908 births
- 1961 deaths
- Mathematical physicists
- Hydrologists
- Saint Petersburg State University alumni
- Alumni of the University of Birmingham
- People from Nizhny Novgorod Oblast
- Academics of the University of Liverpool
- Academics of the University of Birmingham
- Manhattan Project people
- Academic staff of the University of Toronto