SUTHERLAND_GORDON_BRIMS_BLACK_MCIVOR_v2
G.B.B.M. Sutherland
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The work of the Contemporary Scientific Archives Centre, and the
production of this catalogue, are made possible by the support of the following
societies and institutions:
The Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland
The Biochemical Society
The British Pharmacological Society
The Charles Babbage Foundation for the History of Information
Processing
The Institute of Physics —
The Institution of Electrical Engineers
The Nuffield Foundation
The Physiological Society
The Royal Society of London
G.B.B.M, Sutherland
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NOT ALL THE MATERIAL IN THE COLLECTION
IS YET AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION.
ENQUIRIES SHOULD BE ADDRESSED IN THE
FIRST INSTANCE TO:
THE LIBRARIAN,
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY,
CAMBRIDGE.
G.B.B.M. Sutherland
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LIST OF CONTENTS
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
SECTION A
BIO GRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL
SECTION B
EARLY INFRARED RESEARCH
SECTION C
THE NATIONAL PHYSICAL
LABORATORY
SECTION D
COMMITTEES, SOCIETIES,
ORGANISATIONS
SECTION F
SECTION G
SECTION E
EDUCATION AND SCIENCE POLICY
SECTION H
GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE
VISITS AND CONFERENCES
DRAFTS, LECTURES, PUBLICATIONS
INDEX OF CORRESPONDENTS
G.B.B.M. Sutherland
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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
PROVENANCE
The material was received from Lady Sutherland and from Professor N. Sheppard
FRS who contributed some additional material, mainly correspondence received in con-
nection with his Memoir of Sutherland for the Royal Society.
SUMMARY OF THE CAREER OF SIR GORDON SUTHERLAND
Gordon Brims Black Mclvor Sutherland was born in Caithness, Scotland, in 1907.
He was educated at Morgan Academy, Dundee, and St. Andrews University
from which
he graduated with an M.A. in mathematics and B.Sc. in physics in 1929.
The follow-
ing two years were spent in Cambridge where he decided to abandon theoretical physics
in favour of experimental work on infrared spectra, an interest which continued through
out his research career.
During his second year at Cambridge Sutherland met D.M. Dennison and this
prompted him to apply for a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship to work under Dennison at
Cambridge in autumn 1933.
After obtaining his Ph.D. degree in 1934 Sutherland remained in Cambridge
peroxide molecule, and then with various research students including G.K.T. Conn,
M.M. Davies, E. Leeand C.K. Wu.
During the Second World War he began by
working first with W.G. Penney on the problem of the structure of the hydrogen
the University of Michigan which was then the most advanced centre in the world for
the study of infrared spectroscopy.
He spent two years at Michigan, returning to
Cambridge to develop the use of infrared spectroscopy in the analysis of 'enemy' fuels
working for the Ministry of Supply on unexploded bombs but in 1941 he returned to
The pressures of administrative
Laboratory in succession to Sir Edward Bullard, where he remained until 1964 when he
became Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
Physics where he built up a successful infrared research group with a strong emphasis
on biophysical studies.
In 1956 he was appointed as Director of the National Physical
which his team undertook in collaboration with H.W. Thompson at Oxford.
In 1949 Sutherland returned to the University of Michigan as Professor of
G.B.B.M. Sutherland
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work at the NPL allowed little time for Sutherland to pursue his personal research
interests, but his position as head of a large government laboratory and then of a
Cambridge College encouraged a growing interest in the wider issues of science policy
and education on which he wrote, lectured and chaired committees throughout the
1960s.
He died in 1980, three years after his retirement from Emmanuel .
DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
The surviving papers provide some documentation for most aspects of Sutherland's
career, apart from his two periods at the University of Michigan for which there is
virtually nothing.
For the 1930s there is extensive correspondence but no
laboratory
records, and the wartime period is enriched by a very full sequence of letters exchanged
with H.W. Thompson, 1937 - 47.
Section C contains some interesting papers relating
to the NPL, and Section D, which documents Sutherland's involvement with various
societies and organisations, has considerable material on the formation of the Inter-
national Organisation for Pure and Applied Biophysics in which Sutherland played a
major part.
Section E contains correspondence on issues of science policy as well as
in the form Bibliog ...
.
This refers to the list of publications included in the Memoir
Sutherland's own drafts and reports.
The correspondence in Section H dates mainly
from Sutherland's period at the NPL, all earlier letters being in Section B.
Some of Sutherland's ms. and typescript drafts are identified with a reference
of Sutherland by N. Sheppard (Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society,
28, 1982).
G.B.B.M. Sutherland
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LOCATIONS OF FURTHER MATERIAL
Specimens and correspondence relating to Sutherland's work on diamond
are held at the Institute of Geological Sciences (Geological Museum), South
Kensington, London.
Material relating to Sutherland's service on two Cambridge University
Committees (Joint Committee on Student Numbers and Committee of the General
Board on Long-Term Development) has been deposited in the University Archives,
Cambridge.
A little personal material is held by Lady Sutherland.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Lady Sutherland for making the papers available, and
to Professor N. Sheppard FRS and Professor D.E. Blackwell for help and advice.
G.B.B.M. Sutherland
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SECTION A
BIOGRAPHICAL AND PERSONAL A.1 - A.53
A.l