Leonard George Holden Huxley KBE FAA (1902 - 1988)

Born 29 May 1902 in Dulwich, Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Husband of Ella Mary Child (Copeland) Huxley — married Oct 1929 in Kingston, Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Died 4 Sep 1988 at age 86 in Camden, London, England, United Kingdom

Biography

Leonard Huxley KBE FAA is Notable.

Sir Leonard George Holden Huxley KBE FAA DPhil MA was an English-Australian physicist and academic.

Leonard Huxley KBE FAA was born in Surrey, England.

Leonard George Holden Huxley was born on 29th May 1902 in Dulwich, Surrey, England, United Kingdom. He was the son of school teachers George Huxley and Lilian Smith. ^[1] His great-grandfather was the uncle of Thomas Huxley, Charles Darwin's most ardent supporter, giving himself the title of 'Darwin's Bulldog'.

Leonard Huxley KBE FAA migrated from England to Tasmania.

His family migrated from England to Western Australia in 1905 when he was three, soon after settling in Tasmania. From a small country school at Mathinna, Leonard won a scholarship to The Hutchins School, in Hobart, showing great academic and sporting promise whilst there in his final year – he was dux, and captain of the athletics team.

He won a Rhodes Scholarship to New College, Oxford while in his second year at the University of Tasmania. At Oxford he graduated Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1925, (DPhil) in 1928 and Master of Arts (MA) in 1929.

Leonard married Ella 'Molly' Copeland, who was then reading history at Somerville College, on 5th October 1929 in the parish church, Esther, Surrey. ^[2]

During an illustrious scientific and academic career, Leonard was a:

• Physicist at the Australian Radio Research Board, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research 1929 to 1931
• Lecturer in Physics, University College, Leicester 1932 to 1940
• Principal Scientific Officer, Ministry of Aircraft Production, UK 1940 to 1946
• Reader in Electromagnetism, University of Birmingham 1946 to 1949
• Professor of Physics, University of Adelaide 1949 to 1960, and
• Vice-Chancellor, Australian National University 1960 to 1967

The University of Adelaide conferred on him a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD), ad eundem gradum, in 1950.

He was president of the Australian Branch of the Institute of Physics (UK) 1954 to 1955 and president of the Australian Institute of Physics 1962 to 1965. He was elected Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA) in 1953.

In the New Year Honours 1964 Leonard was created Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) for his 'service as Vice-Chancellor of the ANU'. ^[3]

Sir Leonard retired in 1967.

Aged 86 years and having been widowed for seven years, he passed away on 4th September 1988 in Camden, Greater London, during a short overseas visit. ^[4] He was survived by his son and daughter and their families.

Sources

1. ↑ UK FreeBMD Birth Index Sep qtr 1902, vol 1d, page 819; registered at Camberwell
2. ↑ UK FreeBMD Marriage Index Dec qtr 1929, vol 2a, page 1045; registered at Kingston
3. ↑ Australian Honours: KBE; accessed 14 Nov 2023
4. ↑ UK FreeBMD Death Index, vol 14, page 1557

See also

• Crompton, Robert W. 'Huxley, Sir Leonard George Holden (1902–1988)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 2007; accessed online 14 Nov 2023.
• Wikipedia: Leonard Huxley; accessed 14 Nov 2023.