One of eleven Nobel Laureates honoured by the University, by being part of its 'Nobel Prize Winners' wall display on Corridor 'C' of the Aston Webb Building.
The 'Nobel Prize Winners' wall is in two adjacent recesses on the southern side of the corridor. The first recess honours six Nobel Laureates and the second the remaining five.
Francis Aston was the first Nobel Laureate associated with the University some 22 years after it received its Royal Charter in 1900.
Each Laureate has a separate wood framed dedication which shows their photograph, their Nobel Award and date together with the Nobel dedication.
"The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1922 was awarded to Francis William Aston “for his discovery, by means of his mass spectrograph, of isotopes, in a large number of non-radioactive elements, and his enunciation of the whole-number rule.”
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“Francis William Aston 1877-1945
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1922
• British Chemist and physicist
• Birmingham alumnus and University lecturer
• Obtained two degrees from Birmingham; a BSc in Applied Science (1910) and a DSc in Applied/Pure Science (1914)
Known for his work on isotopes and the whole number rule, Francis Aston –
• Invented the mass spectroscope to separate isotopes of neon by taking advantage of their slight difference in mass
• Repeated the experiments with other elements and was able to show that, when expressed as atomic weight units, their masses could be expressed in whole numbers. The whole number principle was of vital importance in the eventual derivation of the structure of the atomic nucleus.
During a scholarship at Birmingham he discovered the phenomenon in discharge tubes known as Aston Dark Space.
In 1921 he was made a fellow of the Royal Society and was awarded the Society’s Hughes Medal in the same year that he received the Noble Prize.
Francis Aston received many awards for his work including the Royal Medal, the John Scott and the Paterno medals and was the author of Isotopes and Structural Units of the Material Universe.”
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The other Nobel Laureates honoured are as follows:
Sir (Walter) Norman Haworth - Chemistry 1937 (jointly)
Lord Robert Cecil - Peace 1937
Sir Peter Medawar - Physilogy or Medicine 1960 (jointly)
Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins CBE, FRS - Physilogy or Medicine 1962 (jointly)
Sir John Robert Vane FRS - Medicine 1982 (jointly)
Sir Paul Maxime Nurse FRS - Physilogy or Medicine 2001 (jointly)
Professor Peter Bullock - Peace 2007 (Collectively)
Professor David Thouless - 2016 Physics (jointly)
Professor Mike Kosterlitz -2016 Physics )jointly)
Professor Sir J. Fraser Stoddart - 2016 Chemistry (jointly)
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