Creator(s): Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton, 1903-1995, nuclear physicist
Administrative History ↴
Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton was born in Dungarvan. Co. Waterford. he graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1926; he received his PhD from Cambridge in 1931 and then returned to the Department of Physics in Trinity College in 1934. In 1948 he was appointed Erasmus Smith Professor of Natural and Experimental Science in Trinity. In 1951 he, and his colleague in Cambridge, John Cockcroft, were awarded the Nobel prize in physics for the work they had done in the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge in the 1930s. Working under the supervision of Ernest Rutherford they successfully split the atom.
In 1934 ETSW married Freda Wilson whom he had met when they were both pupils in Methodist College Belfast.
Archival History ↴
The papers were brought on 3 and 16 June 1993 from the homes of Dr Alan Walton and of Miss Marion Woods; and were presented by Dr ETS Walton after 1993. MS 10657/81 was presented by Alan Walton in 2013.
Immediate Source Acquisition ↴
Donation
Content & Structure
Scope & Content: Walton, Ernest Thomas Sinton, 1903-1995, nuclear physicist ↴
The collection contains research and lecture notes both from under-and postgraduate studies and from Walton’s own lectures and research in Trinity. There is correspondence relating to his work, papers relating to his running of the Physis Department in Trinity. There are also personal papers. There are photographs and objects. Also included is some material (diaries and lectures notes) by his wife Freda Walton.
Appraisal Destruction ↴
Permanent Retention
Arrangement ↴
The collection is arranged as follows:
10657/1 Student life
10657/2 Royal Commission for the 1851 Exhibition
10657/3 The Hughes medal (1938)
10657/4 The Nobel prize for physics (1951)
10657/5 Trinity College Dublin. Physics Laboratory Notebooks
10657/6 Lecture notes
10657/7 Trinity College Dublin, Physics department papers
10657/8 Trinity College Dublin, Physics department correspondence
10657/9‐46 Research/reference materials
10657/47 Accelerators
10657/48 Research and publications
10657/49 Talks, addresses, lectures
10657/50‐1 American tours and lectures
10657/52 Correspondence: Rutherford
10657/53 Correspondence: Cockcroft
10657/54 Correspondence: J L Synge
10657/55 Correspondence: Oliphant
10657/56 Miscellaneous correspondence
10657/57 Correspondence with publishers
10657/58 Correspondence with biographical dictionaries
10657/59 Correspondence with American Peoples’ Encyclopedia
10657/60 Correspondence between ETS Walton and Freda Walton
10657/61 Papers of Freda Walton (née Winifred Isabel
Wilson)
10657/62 Family papers
10657/63 Wartime research
10657/64 Domestic workshop
10657/65 Royal Dublin Society
10657/66 Royal City of Dublin Hospital
10657/67 Scholarship Exchange Board
10657/68 Broadcasting
10657/69 Methodist Centenary Church
10657/70 Teaching science in Ireland
10657/71 Dunsink Observatory/Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies
10657/72 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Ireland
10657/73 Atomic Energy Commission
10657/74 Diaries and bank books
10657/75 Photographs
10657/76 Certificates
10657/77 Invitations
10657/78 Press cuttings
10657/79 Xeroxes
10657/80 Objects
10657/81 Slides
Conditions of Access & Use
Access Conditions
Some of the personal material may only be consulted with the permission of the Walton family. Please contact mscripts@tcd.ie in advance of your visit
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Please contact mscripts@tcd.ie for guidance.
Creation Dates
1918-1993
Extent Medium
45 Boxes; objects
Material Language Script
English
Finding Aids
An item-level description is available to search online
Archive Web Link →
Allied Materials
Related Material
Further material related to Walton is available at the Manuscripts and Archives Research Library, Trinity College Dublin:
TCD MSS 10386-93 Walton's student notebooks
TCD MS 11358 supplementary papers, uncatalogued.
There are notebooks from the Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge held at the Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge University. They may be consulted in Trinity College Library on microfilm Non TCD Mic 42.
Publication Note
McBrierty, Vincent J, Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton: the Irish scientist (1903-1995) (Dublin: Trinity College Press and the Physics Department, Trinity College Dublin, 2003)
Descriptive Control Area
Archivist Note
Adapted by Natalie Milne, February 2014.
Rules/Conventions
ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description. 2nd ed. Ottowa: International Council on Archives, 2000. National Council on Archives: Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names. Chippenham: National Council on Archives, 1997. UK Archival Thesaurus (UKAT)
