The British Atomic Scientists Association ( ASA or BASA ), was founded by Joseph Rotblat in 1946.
107-537: Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls , CBE FRS ( / ˈ p aɪ . ər l z / ; German: [ˈpaɪɐls] ; 5 June 1907 – 19 September 1995) was a German-born British physicist who played a major role in Tube Alloys , Britain's nuclear weapon programme, as well as the subsequent Manhattan Project , the combined Allied nuclear bomb programme. His 1996 obituary in Physics Today described him as "a major player in
214-527: A GBE (in recognition of his role as chairman of the Scottish War Savings Committee) and the award of medal of the order to Lizzie Robinson, a munitions worker. The order had been established primarily as a civilian award; in August 1918, however, not long after its foundation, a number of awards were made to serving naval and military personnel. Four months later, a 'Military Division' was added to
321-404: A broad riband or sash, passing from the right shoulder to the left hip. Knights Commander and male Commanders wear the badge from a ribbon around the neck; male Officers and Members wear the badge from a ribbon on the left chest; female recipients other than Dames Grand Cross (unless in military uniform) normally wear it from a bow on the left shoulder. An oval eight-pointed star is worn, pinned to
428-538: A burning building containing explosives. In December 1922 the statutes of the order were amended; there having been a large number of awards for war work prior to this date, these amended statutes placed the order on more of a peacetime footing. For the first time numbers of appointments were limited, with the stipulation that senior awards in the Civil Division were to outnumber those in the Military Division by
535-513: A chair in 1927. Heisenberg set Peierls a research project on ferromagnetism . It was known that this was caused by the spin of the electrons in the metal aligning; but the reason for this was unknown. Heisenberg suspected that it was caused by a quantum mechanical effect, caused by the Pauli exclusion principle . Peierls was unable to develop the theory, but work on Hall effect was more productive. The anomalous Hall effect could not be explained with
642-449: A circlet bearing the motto of the Order; the reverse bears George V's Royal and Imperial Cypher. (Prior to 1937 Britannia was shown within the circlet.) The size of the badges varies according to rank: the higher classes have slightly larger badges. The badges of Knights and Dames Grand Cross, Knights and Dames Commander, and Commanders are enamelled, with pale blue crosses, crimson circlets and
749-466: A citizen of a Commonwealth realm can convert their appointment from honorary to substantive, and they then enjoy all privileges of membership of the order, including use of the title of Sir and Dame for the senior two ranks of the Order. (An example of the latter is Irish broadcaster Terry Wogan , who was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order in 2005, and on successful application for British citizenship, held alongside his Irish citizenship,
856-503: A family in Canada. In February and March 1940, Peierls and Frisch co-authored the Frisch–Peierls memorandum , which Peierls typed. This short paper was the first to establish that an atomic bomb could be created from a small amount of fissile uranium-235 . Based on the information at hand, they calculated that less than 1 kg would be required. The true figure for the critical mass
963-499: A general expression for diamagnetism in metals at low temperatures. This provided an explanation of the hitherto mysterious properties of bismuth , in which diamagnetic properties were more pronounced than in other metals. Due to Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany, he elected to not return home in 1933, but to remain in Britain. He declined an offer from Otto Stern of a position at
1070-443: A gold central medallion. Officers' badges are plain silver-gilt, while those of Members are plain silver. From 1917 until 1937, the badge of the order was suspended on a purple ribbon, with a red central stripe being added for the military division in 1918. Since 1937, the ribbon has been rose-pink with pearl-grey edges (with the addition of a pearl-grey central stripe for the military division). Knights and Dames Grand Cross wear it on
1177-677: A hole in the theory of electrons in solids ". In 1932, Peierls was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship to study abroad, which he used to study in Rome under Enrico Fermi , and then at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in England under Ralph H. Fowler . In Rome, Peierls completed two papers on electronic band structure , in which he introduced the Peierls substitution , and derived
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#17328485301921284-539: A nursing home near Farmoor , Oxfordshire . He liked to read scientific papers in enlarged script on a computer screen. During 1995, his health continued to decline, and he required regular kidney dialysis sessions at Churchill Hospital , where he died on 19 September 1995. Peierls was knighted in the 1968 Birthday Honours . He was awarded the Rutherford Memorial Medal in 1952, the Royal Medal in 1959,
1391-624: A paper on what is now known as the Bohr–Peierls–Placzek relation . The Second World War broke out before it could be published; but drafts were circulated for comment, and it became one of the most cited unpublished papers of all time. After the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Peierls started working on nuclear weapons research with Otto Robert Frisch , a fellow refugee from Germany. Ironically, they were excluded from
1498-481: A paper with Bethe on the neutrino . The University of Manchester awarded him a D.Sc. degree. Moving back to Cambridge, he worked with David Shoenberg at the Mond Laboratory on superconductivity and liquid helium . To allow him to lecture, in accordance with its rules, St John's College, Cambridge , awarded him an ex officio M.A. degree. In 1936, Mark Oliphant was appointed the professor of physics at
1605-529: A passport and exit visa. They finally left for Zürich that summer. They had four children: Gaby Ellen (b.1933), Ronald Frank (b.1935), Catherine (Kitty; b.1948), and Joanna (b.1949). Peierls assisted Egon Orowan in understanding the force required to move a dislocation which would be expanded on by Frank Nabarro and called the Peierls–Nabarro force . In 1929, he studied solid-state physics in Zurich under
1712-488: A proportion of six to one. Furthermore appointments in the civil division were to be divided equally between UK and overseas awards. With regard to the Medal of the Order (but not the order itself), a distinction was made in 1922 between awards 'for gallantry' and awards 'for meritorious service' (each being appropriately inscribed, and the former having laurel leaves decorating the clasp, the latter oak leaves). In 1933 holders of
1819-530: A student from India. With Kapur he derived the dispersion formula for nuclear reactions originally given in perturbation theory by Gregory Breit and Eugene Wigner , but now included generalising conditions. This is now known as the Kapur–Peierls derivation. It is still used, but in 1947 Wigner and Leonard Eisenbud developed a more widely used alternative method. In 1938, Peierls paid visits to Copenhagen, where he collaborated with Bohr and George Placzek on
1926-502: A year late because he needed glasses, and his parents did not trust him not to lose them or break them. After two years at the local preparatory school, he entered his local gymnasium , the Humboldt Gymnasium [ de ] , where he spent the next nine years, passing his abitur examinations in 1925. He wanted to study engineering, but his parents, who doubted his practical abilities, suggested physics instead. He entered
2033-492: A year on sabbatical, Peierls took his place. The position was finally filled permanently by Brian Flowers . Peierls resigned from Harwell in 1957 due to what he saw as a lack of openness in security vetting at the request of the Americans, which he felt indicated a lack of trust in him on the part of senior staff; but he was invited to rejoin in 1960, and did so in 1963, remaining as a consultant for another 30 years. Peierls became
2140-554: Is about four times as large; but until then it had been assumed that such a bomb would require many tons of uranium, and consequently was impractical to build and use. They went on to estimate the size of the explosion, and its physical, military and political effects. The Frisch–Peierls memorandum was pivotal in igniting the interest of first the British and later the American authorities in atomic weapons. In 1941 its findings made their way to
2247-512: Is an image of Britannia surrounded by the motto, with the words "For Meritorious Service" at the bottom; on the reverse is George V's Imperial and Royal Cypher, with the words "Instituted by King George V" at the bottom. The name of the recipient is engraved on the rim. This medal is nicknamed "the Gong", and comes in both full-sized and miniature versions – the latter for formal white-tie and semi-formal black-tie occasions. A lapel pin for everyday wear
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#17328485301922354-872: Is not a member of the College of Arms , as are many other heraldic officers; and the Lady Usher of the Purple Rod does not – unlike the Order of the Garter equivalent, the Lady Usher of the Black Rod – perform any duties related to the House of Lords . Since the Second World War, several Commonwealth realms have established their own national system of honours and awards and have created their own unique orders, decorations and medals. A number, though, continue to make recommendations for appointments to
2461-556: The Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell. He received many awards, including a knighthood in 1968, and wrote several books including Quantum Theory of Solids , The Laws of Nature (1955), Surprises in Theoretical Physics (1979), More Surprises in Theoretical Physics (1991) and an autobiography, Bird of Passage (1985). Concerned with the nuclear weapons he had helped to unleash, he worked on
2568-454: The Boltzmann equations for phonons and the umklapp process . He submitted a paper on the subject for his habilitation , acquiring the right to teach at German universities. Physics Today noted that "His many papers on electrons in metals have now passed so deeply into the literature that it is hard to identify his contribution to conductivity in magnetic fields and to the concept of
2675-680: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , was President of the Atomic Scientists' Association in the UK , and was involved in the Pugwash movement , and FREEZE, now known as Saferworld . Genia died on 26 October 1986. Peierls remained active, although his eyesight deteriorated. In 1994, he suffered a combination of health problems, including heart, kidney and lung problems, and relocated himself to Oakenholt,
2782-504: The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists , was President of the Atomic Scientists' Association in the UK , and was involved in the Pugwash movement . Rudolf Ernst Peierls was born in the Berlin suburb of Oberschöneweide , the youngest of three children of Heinrich Peierls an electrical engineer, from a family of Jewish merchants. His father was the managing director of a cable factory of Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG), and his mother
2889-482: The Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge under Ralph H. Fowler . Because of his Jewish background, he elected to not return home after Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, but to remain in Britain, where he worked with Hans Bethe at the Victoria University of Manchester , then at the Mond Laboratory at Cambridge. In 1937, Mark Oliphant , the newly appointed Australian professor of physics at
2996-620: The K-25 Project , designing and building the American gaseous diffusion plant. While Kellex was located in the Woolworth Building , Peierls, Simon and Nicholas Kurti had their offices in the British supply mission on Wall Street . They were joined there by Tony Skyrme and Frank Kearton , who arrived in March 1944. Kurti returned to England in April 1944 and Kearton in September. Peierls moved on to
3103-961: The Lorentz Medal in 1962, the Max Planck Medal in 1963, the Guthrie Medal and Prize in 1968, the Matteucci Medal in 1982, and the Enrico Fermi Award from the United States Government for exceptional contribution to the science of atomic energy in 1980. In 1986, he was awarded the Copley Medal , and delivered the Rutherford Memorial Lecture , and in 1991 he was awarded the Dirac Medal and Prize . On 2 October 2004,
3210-644: The Los Alamos Laboratory in February 1944; Skyrme followed in July, and Fuchs in August. At Los Alamos, the British Mission was fully integrated into the laboratory, and British scientists worked in most of its divisions, being excluded only from plutonium chemistry and metallurgy. When Oppenheimer appointed Bethe as the head of the laboratory's prestigious Theoretical (T) Division, he offended Edward Teller , who
3317-541: The Order of Canada . On the other hand, the Australian Honours System unilaterally created in 1975 did not achieve bi-partisan support until 1992, which was when Australian federal and state governments agreed to cease Australian recommendations for British honours; the last Australian recommended Order of the British Empire appointments were in the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours . New Zealand continued to use
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3424-647: The Quebec Agreement on 19 August 1943 merged Tube Alloys with the Manhattan Project. Akers had already cabled London with instructions that Chadwick, Peierls, Oliphant and Simon should leave immediately for North America to join the British Mission to the Manhattan Project , and they arrived the day the agreement was signed. Simon and Peierls were attached to the Kellex Corporation , which was engaged in
3531-458: The University of Berlin , where he listened to lectures by Max Planck , Walther Bothe and Walther Nernst . Fellow students included Kurt Hirsch and Käte Sperling . The physics laboratory classes were overcrowded, so the first year students were encouraged to take theoretical physics courses instead. Peierls found that he liked the subject. In 1926 Peierls decided to transfer to the University of Munich to study under Arnold Sommerfeld , who
3638-420: The University of Birmingham recruited him for a new chair there in applied mathematics. In March 1940, Peierls co-authored the Frisch–Peierls memorandum with Otto Robert Frisch . This short paper was the first to set out that one could construct an atomic bomb from a small amount of fissile uranium-235 . Until then it had been assumed that such a bomb would require many tons of uranium, and consequently
3745-425: The University of Birmingham , and he approached Peierls about a new chair in applied mathematics that he was creating there. (Applied mathematics being what would today be called theoretical physics.) Peierls got the job despite competition from Harrie Massey and Harry Jones [ de ] . The appointment at last gave Peierls a secure, permanent position. His students included Fred Hoyle and P. L. Kapur ,
3852-506: The University of Hamburg . Granted leave to remain in Britain, he worked at the Victoria University of Manchester with funding from the Academic Assistance Council , which had been set up to help academic refugees from Germany and other fascist countries. Most of his immediate family also left Germany; his brother and his family settling in Britain, and his sister and her family, along with his father and stepmother, moved to
3959-485: The Wykeham Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford in 1963. He remained there until he retired in 1974. He wrote several books including Quantum Theory of Solids (1955), The Laws of Nature (1955), Surprises in Theoretical Physics (1979), More Surprises in Theoretical Physics (1991) and an autobiography, Bird of Passage (1985). Concerned with the nuclear weapons he had helped to unleash, he worked on
4066-546: The civil service . It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two of which make the recipient either a knight if male or a dame if female. There is also the related British Empire Medal , whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. The order was established on 4 June 1917 by King George V , who created the order to recognise 'such persons, male or female, as may have rendered or shall hereafter render important services to Our Empire'. Equal recognition
4173-464: The 21st century quotas were introduced to ensure consistent representation among recipients across nine categories of eligibility: with the largest proportion of awards being reserved for community, voluntary and local service. Non-military awards of the British Empire Medal resumed in 2012, starting with 293 BEMs awarded for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee . In 2017 the centenary of
4280-788: The British Empire . Rather than using this chapel, the Order now holds its great services upstairs in the nave of the cathedral. In addition to the Chapel of the Order of the British Empire, St Paul's Cathedral also houses the Chapel of the Order of St Michael and St George . Religious services for the whole Order are held every four years; new Knights and Dames Grand Cross are installed at these services. Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander prefix Sir , and Dames Grand Cross and Dames Commander prefix Dame , to their forenames. Wives of Knights may prefix Lady to their surnames, but no equivalent privilege exists for husbands of Knights or spouses of Dames. Such forms are not used by peers and princes, except when
4387-490: The British Empire for Gallantry. Any individual made a member of the order for gallantry after 14 January 1958 wears an emblem of two crossed silver oak leaves on the same ribbon as the badge, with a miniature version on the ribbon bar when worn alone. When the ribbon only is worn the emblem is worn in miniature. It could not be awarded posthumously , and was replaced in 1974 with the Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM). If recipients of
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4494-698: The MAUD Committee, but the absurdity of this was soon recognised, and they were made members of its Technical Subcommittee. This did not mean that they were cleared for radar work. When Oliphant made the services of his secretary available for typing up the Peierl's and Frisch's papers for the MAUD Committee in September 1940, they were not allowed to enter the Nuffield Building where she worked, so Peierls submitted them for typing by dictaphone on wax cylinders. Frisch and Peierls thought at first that uranium enrichment
4601-740: The Military Division of the order from the UK and across the Empire. Recommendations for all appointments to the Order of the British Empire were originally made on the nomination of the King's United Kingdom ministers (recommendations for overseas awards were made by the Foreign Office , the Colonial Office , the India Office and the Dominions Office ); but in the early 1940s the system was changed to enable
4708-691: The Netherlands to meet Hans Kramers , and to Copenhagen to meet Niels Bohr . In August 1930 Pauli and Peierls attended a physics congress in Odessa and met a young physics graduate, Eugenia (Genia) Nikolaievna Kannegiesser, who, like Landau, came from Leningrad . Since he did not speak Russian and she did not speak German, they conversed in English. During a subsequent visit by Peierls to lecture in Leningrad they were married on 15 March 1931. However, she had to wait for
4815-436: The Order of the British Empire for Gallantry received promotion within the order, whether for gallantry or otherwise, they continued to wear also the insignia of the lower grade with the oak leaves; however, they used only the post-nominal letters of the higher grade. When the order was founded in 1917, badges, ribands and stars were appointed for wear by recipients. In 1929 mantles, hats and collars were added for recipients of
4922-513: The Order of the British Empire. In 2024 appointments to the order were made by the governments of: Most members of the order are citizens of the United Kingdom or Commonwealth realms that use the UK system of honours and awards. In addition, honorary awards may be made to citizens of nations where the monarch is not head of state ; these permit use of post-nominal letters, but not the title of Sir or Dame . Honorary appointees who later become
5029-404: The Order, however, are not assigned any special precedence. As a general rule, only wives and children of male recipients are afforded privileges. Knights and Dames Grand Cross are also entitled to be granted heraldic supporters . They may, furthermore, encircle their arms with a depiction of the circlet (a circle bearing the motto) and the collar; the former is shown either outside or on top of
5136-652: The Peierls family for a time. Peierls had a Russian wife, as did his brother, and he maintained close contact with colleagues in the Soviet Union before and after the Second World War. While not a communist like Fuchs, Peierls was known to have left-wing political views, and had colleagues with similar views. He was denied a visa to visit the United States to attend a Nuclear Physics Conference in Chicago in 1951. A similar request
5243-477: The UK It was a politically neutral group, composed of eminent physicists and other scientists and was concerned with matters of British public policy regarding applications and dangers of nuclear physics (including nuclear weapons and nuclear power ). In so doing it also sought to inform fellow scientists and the public of the essential facts, usually via published papers and other documents. The vice-president (VP)
5350-460: The United Kingdom; those who would formerly have met the criteria for the medal were instead made eligible for the MBE. In 2004, a report entitled A Matter of Honour: Reforming Our Honours System by a Commons select committee recommended phasing out the Order of the British Empire, as its title was "now considered to be unacceptable, being thought to embody values that are no longer shared by many of
5457-607: The United States through the report of the MAUD Committee , an important trigger in the establishment of the Manhattan Project and the subsequent development of the atomic bomb. With the Frisch-Peierls memorandum and the MAUD Committee report, the British and American scientists were able to begin thinking about how to create a bomb, not whether it was possible. As enemy aliens, Frisch and Peierls were initially excluded from
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#17328485301925564-431: The United States, where he visited Urey and Fermi in New York, Arthur H. Compton in Chicago, Robert Oppenheimer in Berkeley , and Jesse Beams in Charlottesville, Virginia . When George Kistiakowsky argued that a nuclear weapon would do little damage as most of the energy would be expended heating the air, Peierls, Fuchs, Geoffrey Taylor and J. G. Kynch worked out the hydrodynamics to refute this. The signing of
5671-441: The United States, where his uncle Siegfried lived. Peierls collaborated with Bethe on photodisintegration and the statistical mechanics of alloys when challenged by James Chadwick . Their results still serve as the basis for mean-field theories of structural phase changes in complete alloys . Although most of his work continued to be about the electron theory of metals, he also looked at Dirac's hole theory , and co-wrote
5778-450: The addition of a vertical pearl grey stripe in the centre for awards in the military division). From time to time the order was expanded: there was an increase in the maximum permitted number of recipients in 1933, and a further increase in 1937. During the Second World War, as had been the case during and after World War I, the number of military awards was greatly increased; between 1939 and 1946 there were more than 33,000 appointments to
5885-433: The building housing the sub-department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford was formally named the Sir Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics . Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry , rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside
5992-413: The cathedral. That year, Commonwealth awards made up 40% of all OBEs and MBEs awarded (and 35% of all living recipients of the higher awards). Gradually that proportion reduced as independent states within the Commonwealth established their own systems of honours . The last Canadian recommendation for the Order of the British Empire was an MBE for gallantry gazetted in 1966, a year before the creation of
6099-418: The circlet. In 1929, to bring the order into line with the other orders of chivalry, members of the first class of the order (GBE) were provided with mantles, hats and collars. Only Knights/Dames Grand Cross wear these elaborate vestments; the hat is now rarely, if ever, worn. Use of the mantle is limited to important occasions (such as quadrennial services and coronations ). The mantle is always worn with
6206-407: The classical theory of metals, and Heisenberg sensed an opportunity to demonstrate that quantum mechanics could explain it. Peierls was able to do so, resulting in his first published paper. Heisenberg left in 1929 to lecture in America, China, Japan and India, and on his recommendation Peierls moved on to ETH Zurich , where he studied under Wolfgang Pauli . Pauli set him a problem of investigating
6313-444: The collar. Although the mantle was introduced in 1929, very few mantles would have been produced prior to the 1937 design changes, as there were few occasions for wearing them in the intervening years. On certain days designated by the sovereign, known as " collar days ", members attending formal events may wear the order's collar over their military uniform, formal day dress, evening wear or robes of office. Collars are returned upon
6420-479: The country's population". The committee further suggested changing the name of the award to the Order of British Excellence, and changing the rank of Commander to Companion (as the former was said to have a "militaristic ring"), as well as advocating for the abolition of knighthoods and damehoods; the government, however, was not of the opinion that a case for change had been made, and the aforementioned suggestions and recommendations were not, therefore, pursued. In
6527-403: The death of their owners, but other insignia may be retained. The six office-holders of the order wear pearl-grey mantles lined with rose-pink, having on the right side a purple shield charged with the roundel from the badge. Each of these office-holders wears a unique badge of office, suspended from a gold chain worn around the neck. The British Empire Medal is made of silver. On the obverse
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#17328485301926634-445: The distinction between ranks in military operational gallantry awards will cease'. The reforms affected the order at various levels: for example the automatic award each year of a GBE to the Lord Mayor of London ceased; the OBE replaced the Imperial Service Order as an award for civil servants and the number of MBEs awarded each year was significantly increased. As part of these reforms the British Empire Medal stopped being awarded by
6741-489: The drama of the eruption of nuclear physics into world affairs". Peierls studied physics at the University of Berlin , at the University of Munich under Arnold Sommerfeld , the University of Leipzig under Werner Heisenberg , and ETH Zurich under Wolfgang Pauli . After receiving his DPhil from Leipzig in 1929, he became an assistant to Pauli in Zurich. In 1932, he was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship , which he used to study in Rome under Enrico Fermi , and then at
6848-724: The following year was granted, but in 1957 the Americans expressed concerns about him, indicating that they were unwilling to share information with the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell while he remained as a consultant. Physicists were in demand after the war, and Peierls received offers from several universities. He seriously considered an offer of a position at Cambridge from William Lawrence Bragg , but decided to return to Birmingham. He worked on nuclear forces , scattering , quantum field theories , collective motion in nuclei , transport theory , and statistical mechanics . Peierls had largely left solid state physics behind when, in 1953, he began collecting his lecture notes on
6955-403: The former was to be responsible for recording all proceedings connected with the order, issuing warrants under the seal of the order and making arrangements for investitures, while the latter (at that time the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury ) was responsible for collecting and tabulating the names of those who were to receive an award. The office of Dean was added in 1957. The King of Arms
7062-401: The governments of overseas dominions to make their own nominations; Canada and South Africa began doing so in 1942, followed by Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth realms. In May 1957, forty years after the foundation of the order, it was announced that St Paul's Cathedral was to serve as the church of the order, and in 1960 a chapel was dedicated for its use within the crypt of
7169-450: The highest class of the order (GBE). The designs of all these items underwent major changes in 1937. The badge is worn by all members of the order; the size, colour and design depends on the class of award. The badge for all classes is in the form of a cross patonce (having the arms growing broader and floriated toward the end) with a medallion in the centre, the obverse of which bears a crowned image of George V and Queen Mary within
7276-532: The honours system, calling it "a preposterous charade". The order has attracted some criticism for its naming having connection with the idea of the now-extinct British Empire . Benjamin Zephaniah , a British poet of Jamaican and Barbadian descent, publicly rejected appointment as an Officer in 2003 because, he asserted, it reminded him of "thousands of years of brutality". He also said that "it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised". Atomic Scientists%27 Association in
7383-446: The insignia to Buckingham Palace and by ceasing to make reference to their honour, but they still hold the honour unless and until annulled by the monarch. In 2003, The Sunday Times published a list of the people who had rejected the Order of the British Empire, including David Bowie , John Cleese , Nigella Lawson , Elgar Howarth , L. S. Lowry , George Melly , and J. G. Ballard . In addition, Ballard voiced his opposition to
7490-468: The junior post-nominal letters. The British sovereign is the sovereign of the order and appoints all other officers of the order (by convention, on the advice of the governments of the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth realms ). The second-most senior officer is the Grand Master (a 'Prince of the Blood Royal, or other exalted personage' appointed by the sovereign, who, by virtue of their appointment, becomes 'the First or Principal Knight Grand Cross of
7597-416: The latter worked at the Clinton Engineer Works , whereas Peierls did not. There were good reasons for the postwar intelligence agencies to suspect Peierls. He not only had recruited Fuchs, and served as his "sponsor" on recruitment and security matters, but had pressed the authorities for Fuchs to be given a full security clearance without which he could not have assisted Peierls in his work. Fuchs lived with
7704-519: The latter. Knights and Dames Commander and Commanders may display the circlet, but not the collar, surrounding their arms. The badge is depicted suspended from the collar or circlet. See List of current honorary knights and dames of the Order of the British Empire Only the monarch can annul an honour. The Honours Forfeiture Committee considers cases and makes recommendations for forfeiture. An individual can renounce their honour by returning
7811-463: The left breast, by Knights and Dames Grand Cross; Knights and Dames Commander wear a smaller star composed of 'four equal points and four lesser'. The star is not worn by the more junior classes. Prior to 1937 each star had in the centre a gold medallion with a figure of Britannia, surrounded by a crimson circlet inscribed with the motto of the order ('For God and the Empire'); since 1937 the effigies of King George V and Queen Mary have been shown within
7918-569: The medal 'for gallantry', which had come to be known as the Empire Gallantry Medal , were given permission to use the postnominal letters EGM (and at the same time to add a laurel branch emblem to the ribbon of the medal); however, in 1940, awards of the EGM ceased and all holders of the medal were instructed to exchange it for a new and more prestigious gallantry award: the George Cross . In 1941,
8025-547: The medal of the order 'for meritorious service' was renamed the British Empire Medal , and the following year its recipients were granted the right to use the postnominal letters BEM. During the war, the BEM came to be used to recognise acts of bravery which did not merit the award of a George Cross or George Medal , a use which continued until the introduction of the Queen's Gallantry Medal in 1974. The designs of insignia of
8132-449: The medal. The colour of the riband was also changed: twenty years earlier, prior to the order's establishment, Queen Mary had made it known that pink would be her preferred colour for the riband of the proposed new order, but, in the event, purple was chosen. Following her appointment as Grand Master of the order in 1936 a change was duly made and since 9 March 1937 the riband of the order has been 'rose pink edged with pearl grey’ (with
8239-469: The names of the former are written out in their fullest forms. Male clergy of the Church of England or the Church of Scotland do not use the title Sir (unless they were knighted before being ordained) as they do not receive the accolade (they are not dubbed "knight" with a sword), although they do append the post-nominal letters ; dames do not receive the accolade, and therefore female clergy are free to use
8346-589: The nuclear weapons project, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1946 New Year Honours , and was awarded the US Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm in 1946. Peierls was responsible for the recruitment of Fuchs to the British project, an action which was to result in Peierls falling under suspicion when Fuchs was exposed as a Soviet spy in 1950. In 1999, The Spectator garnered outrage from Peierls's family when it published an article by journalist Nicholas Farrell that alleged that Peierls
8453-399: The numbers restricted to the order as full members do. Although the Order of the British Empire has by far the highest number of members of the British orders of chivalry, with more than 100,000 living members worldwide, there are fewer appointments to knighthoods than in other orders. From time to time, individuals may be promoted to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of
8560-605: The order alongside its own honours until the establishment of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1996. Other Commonwealth realms have continued to use the Order of the British Empire alongside their own honours. In 1993 the Prime Minister, John Major , instituted a reform of the honours system with the aim 'that exceptional service or achievement will be more widely recognised; that greater importance will be given to voluntary service; that automatic honours will end; that
8667-408: The order and medal were altered in 1937, prior to the coronation of King George VI , 'in commemoration of the reign of King George V and Queen Mary, during which the Order was founded'. The figure of Britannia at the centre of the badge of the order was replaced with an image of the crowned heads of the late King and Queen Mary, and the words 'Instituted by King George V' were added to the reverse of
8774-409: The order was celebrated with a service at St Paul's Cathedral. The order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross, 845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the total number of members of the fourth and fifth classes, but no more than 858 officers and 1,464 members may be appointed per year. Foreign appointees, as honorary members, do not contribute to
8881-426: The order, to which serving personnel would in future be appointed. The classes were the same as for the Civil Division (as it was now termed), but military awards were distinguished by the addition of a central vertical red stripe to the purple riband of the civil awards. In 1920 appointment as an MBE 'for an act of gallantry' was granted for the first time, to Sydney Frank Blanck Esq, who had rescued an injured man from
8988-586: The same Order'). The position of Grand Master has been held by the following people: In addition to the sovereign and the grand master , the order has six further officers: At its foundation the order was served by three officers: the King of Arms, the Registrar & Secretary and the Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod. In 1922 the Prelate was added, and the office of Registrar was separated from that of Secretary:
9095-455: The standard of the George Medal (even though, as appointments to an order of chivalry, they were listed before it on the Order of Wear . In contrast to awards for meritorious service, which usually appear without a citation, there were often citations for gallantry awards, some detailed and graphic. From 14 January 1958, these awards were designated Commander, Officer or Member of the Order of
9202-519: The subject into a book. Reconsidering the way that the atoms in metal crystals are arranged, he noted an instability. This became known as the Peierls transition . Peierls built up the physics department at Birmingham by attracting high quality researchers. These included Gerald E. Brown , Max Krook , Tony Skyrme , Dick Dalitz , Freeman Dyson , Luigi Arialdo Radicati di Brozolo , Stuart Butler , Walter Marshal , Stanley Mandelstam and Elliott H. Lieb . An undergraduate school of mathematical physics
9309-602: The techniques were developed to confirm them experimentally. Peierls accepted an offer from Pauli to become his assistant in place of Felix Bloch . Lev Landau was there at this time on a scholarship from the government of the Soviet Union , and Peierls and Landau became friends. They collaborated on deriving a series of wave equations similar to the Schrödinger equation for photons . Unfortunately, their equations, while complicated, were nonsensical. In 1930, Peierls travelled to
9416-506: The title Dame . Knights and Dames Grand Cross use the post-nominal GBE; Knights Commander, KBE; Dames Commander, DBE; Commanders, CBE; Officers, OBE; and Members, MBE. The post-nominal for the British Empire Medal is BEM. Members of all classes of the order are assigned positions in the order of precedence . Wives of male members of all classes also feature on the order of precedence, as do sons, daughters and daughters-in-law of Knights Grand Cross and Knights Commander; relatives of Ladies of
9523-577: The titles Sir for men and Dame for women before their forenames, except with honorary awards. King George V founded the order to fill gaps in the British honours system : In particular, George V wished to create an order to honour the many thousands of individuals from across the Empire who had served in a variety of non-combat roles during the First World War . From its foundation the order consisted of five classes (GBE, KBE/DBE, CBE, OBE and MBE) and
9630-427: The tutelage of Heisenberg and Pauli. His early work on quantum physics led to the theory of positive carriers to explain the thermal and electrical conductivity behaviours of semiconductors . He was a pioneer of the concept of "holes" in semiconductors. He established "zones" before Léon Brillouin , despite Brillouin's name being currently attached to the idea, and applied it to phonons . Doing this, he discovered
9737-674: The vibration of atoms in a crystal lattice. Peierls explored—and named—the phenomenon of umklapp scattering . He submitted this work as his DPhil thesis, Zur kinetischen Theorie der Wärmeleitung in Kristallen (On the Kinetic Theory of Heat Conduction in Crystals), which was accepted by the University of Leipzig in 1929. His theory made specific predictions of the behaviour of metals at very low temperatures, but another twenty years would pass before
9844-408: The war, Peierls returned to the University of Birmingham, where he worked until 1963, and then was the Wykeham Professor of Physics and a Fellow of New College at the University of Oxford until he retired in 1974. At Birmingham he worked on nuclear forces , scattering , quantum field theories , collective motion in nuclei , transport theory and statistical mechanics , and was a consultant to
9951-506: The work on radar at the University of Birmingham because it was considered too secret for scientists who were enemy aliens . Peierls was naturalised as a British subject on 27 March 1940. He was eager to participate in the fight against fascism and militarism, but the only organisation that would accept him was the Auxiliary Fire Service . He accepted an offer from the University of Toronto to send his two children to live with
10058-493: Was a spy for the Soviet Union. The article was based on information supplied by intelligence historian Nigel West , who identified Peierls as the spy codenamed "Fogel" and later "Pers" in the Venona intercepts, and his wife Genia as the spy codenamed "Tina". However, the association of Tina with Genia did not fit with what was known about Tina, and she was conclusively revealed to be Melita Norwood in 1999. Nor did Peierls fit Pers, as
10165-471: Was best achieved through thermal diffusion , but as the difficulties with this approach became more apparent they switched to gaseous diffusion , bringing in a fellow refugee from Germany, Franz Simon , as an expert on the subject. Peierls also recruited yet another refugee from Germany, Klaus Fuchs , as his assistant in May 1941. As a result of the MAUD Committee's findings, a new directorate known as Tube Alloys
10272-489: Was considered to be the greatest teacher of theoretical physics. Fellow students there included Hans Bethe , Hermann Brück and William V. Houston . At the time, the Bohr-Sommerfeld theory was being overturned by the new quantum mechanics of Werner Heisenberg and Paul Dirac . In 1928, Sommerfeld set off on a world tour. On his advice, Peierls moved to the University of Leipzig , where Heisenberg had been appointed to
10379-664: Was created to coordinate the nuclear weapons development effort. Sir John Anderson , the Lord President of the Council , became the minister responsible, and Wallace Akers from Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was appointed the director of Tube Alloys. Peierls, Chadwick and Simon were appointed to its Technical Committee, which was chaired by Akers. Its first meeting, in November 1941, was attended by two American visitors, Harold Urey and George B. Pegram . Later that year, Peierls flew to
10486-497: Was created. Peierls delivered the lectures on quantum mechanics, a subject that had not been taught at Birmingham before the war. In 1946 Peierls became a consultant to the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell . After Fuchs was dismissed from his position there as head of the Theoretical Physics Division in 1950, Maurice Pryce acted in the position in a part-time capacity, but when he went to America for
10593-402: Was first announced at the end of December 2006, and is available to recipients of all levels of the order, as well as to holders of the British Empire Medal . The pin design is not unique to any level. The pin features the badge of the order, enclosed in a circle of ribbon of its colours of pink and grey. Lapel pins must be purchased separately by a member of the order. The creation of such a pin
10700-448: Was given his own group, tasked with investigating Teller's "Super" bomb . Oppenheimer then wrote to the director of the Manhattan Project, Brigadier General Leslie R. Groves, Jr , requesting that Peierls be sent to take Teller's place in T Division. Peierls arrived from New York on 8 February 1944, and subsequently succeeded Chadwick as head of the British Mission at Los Alamos. Peierls also became leader of T-1 (Implosion) Group, and so
10807-436: Was his father's first wife, Elisabeth ( née Weigert). Rudolf had an older brother, Alfred, and an older sister, Annie. His mother died from Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1921, and his father married Else Hermann, the sister-in-law of the playwright Ludwig Fulda . The family was Jewish, but assimilated , and Peierls and his siblings were baptised as Lutherans . When he came of age, Peierls left the church. Peierls commenced school
10914-429: Was impractical to build and use. The paper was pivotal in igniting the interest of first the British and later the American authorities in nuclear weapons. He was also responsible for the recruitment of his compatriot Klaus Fuchs to work on Tube Alloys, as the British nuclear weapons project was called, which resulted in Peierls falling under suspicion when Fuchs was exposed as a spy for the Soviet Union in 1950. After
11021-469: Was made a substantive member and subsequently styled as Sir Terry Wogan). Although initially intended to recognise meritorious service, the order began to also be awarded for gallantry. There were an increased number of cases in the Second World War for service personnel and civilians including the merchant navy, police, emergency services and civil defence, mostly MBEs but with a small number of OBEs and CBEs. Such awards were for gallantry that did not reach
11128-508: Was open to both women and men; provision was also made for conferring honorary awards on foreign recipients. At the same time, alongside the order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. The first investiture took place at Ibrox Stadium , as part of a royal visit to the Glasgow shipyards, with the appointment of Alexander Ure, 1st Baron Strathclyde as
11235-620: Was recommended in Sir Hayden Phillips ' review of the honours system in 2004. The Chapel of the Order of the British Empire is in St Paul's Cathedral . It occupies the far eastern end of the cathedral crypt and was dedicated in 1960. The only heraldic banners normally on display in the chapel are those of the Sovereign of the Order of the British Empire and of the Grand Master of the Order of
11342-617: Was responsible for the design of the explosive lenses used in the implosion-type nuclear weapon to focus an explosion onto a spherical shape. He sent regular reports to Chadwick, the head of the British Mission to the Manhattan Project, in Washington, DC. When Groves found out, he asked Peierls to send him reports too. Peierls was one of those present at the Trinity nuclear test on 16 July 1945. He returned to England in January 1946. For his services to
11449-526: Was to be given for services rendered in the UK and overseas. Today the majority of recipients are UK citizens, though a number of Commonwealth realms outside the UK continue to make appointments to the order. Honorary awards may be made to citizens of other nations of which the order's sovereign is not the head of state. The five classes of appointment to the Order are, from highest grade to lowest grade: The senior two ranks of Knight or Dame Grand Cross and Knight or Dame Commander entitle their members to use
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