Talk:Cavendish Laboratory

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What is the source for the claim that the laboratory was named after Henry Cavendish? The official Cavendish Laboratory history section The History of the Cavendish does not mention Henry Cavendish and only gives credit William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, who was Chancellor of the University as the one who donated the money to build the laboratory. The only time he is mentioned in the site is As a relative of William Cavendish Avihu (talk) 11:34, 17 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Good point. I agree that naming after the benefactor who provided the building funds is the most likely. William Cavendish had other of his benefactions named after him, eg Cavendish College, Cambridge. I think we need to look at some contemporary sources and see what they say, eg Maxwell's early biography. - Op. Deo (talk) 21:46, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
 * I have found a source - The Times 4 Nov 1873 page 8 "The University will feel that it owes a great debt of gratitude to his Grace  (ie Lord Cavendish the Chancellor ) for his well timed present (ie the building) and as he has consented that it should be called the Cavendish laboratory, will be glad to associate his name with it, and regard it both as a monument of his liberality and a memorial of his connexionwith the University, first as a student then as its Chancellor." - Op. Deo (talk) 22:00, 25 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Good. I was quite sure that it was an error. BTW, all the other languages copied this error from the English Wikipedia. I come from the Hebrew Wikipedia (which off course copied the error), but was suspicious when I found out that Henry Cavendish died more than 60 years before he supposedly gave his name to the laboratory.
 * BTW, the article about Henry Cavendish should be fixed also. First, it specify that the money for the laboratory came from several relatives of Henry Cavendish, which is AFAIK is an error (only William Cavendish donated money), and even if it does not name Henry Cavendish as the one who gave his name to the laboratory, it does imply it. Avihu (talk) 05:28, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Article is Unbalanced and Ignores pre-World War II events
The section on molecular biology dominates this article. Why? And the paragraphs on the discovery of the structure of DNA would be better replaced by a brief note and a reference to the article(s) on DNA.

And the section on nuclear physics starts with the Cavendish's contribution to The Allies in World War II.

Much important work in atomic and nuclear physics was done at the Cavendish prior to WW II.

For example, Nobel prizes were awarded to the following researchers:

Rayleigh explained why the sky is blue and was the co-discoverer of the noble gas, argon.

JJ Thomson discovered the electron - a fundamental step in our understanding of the atom and a building block toward the development of quantum theory. His son, George Thomson, proved the de Broglie principle of wave-particle duality by means of an electron diffraction experiment.

Cockcroft & Walton "split the atom" (actually the atomic nucleus).

James Chadwick discovered the neutron.

WL Bragg and WH Bragg formulated the Bragg law of X-ray diffraction, later used for structural studies of proteins.

The above is just a brief list of advances in physics that came out of the Cavendish between 1900 and WW II. Yet none is mentioned in the article! Marchino61 (talk) 00:50, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

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