physics

Samuel Devons

Samuel Devons is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Samuel Devons rather than just read about it. In short: Samuel Devons FRS (30 September 1914 – 6 December 2006) was a British physicist and science historian. Biography Devons' parents were David Isaac Devons, a Lithuanian immigrant (1881–1926), and Edith Edelston from York (1891–1938).

Key takeaways

Samuel Devons belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Samuel Devons to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Samuel Devons from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Samuel Devons FRS (30 September 1914 – 6 December 2006) was a British physicist and science historian.

Biography Devons' parents were David Isaac Devons, a Lithuanian immigrant (1881–1926), and Edith Edelston from York (1891–1938). Economist Ely Devons was his brother. Samuel was born in Bangor, Wales. When he turned 16, he was awarded a scholarship for physics at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1935, Devons received his bachelor's degree at Trinity, and his PhD in 1939.

Personal life Devons married Ruth Toubkin in 1938 in England, United Kingdom, and moved to the United States in 1960, to work at Columbia University Physics Department. He had four daughters (Susan, Judith, Amanda and Cathryn), and had 12 grandchildren (Laura, Marc, Benjamin, Daniel, Jesse, David, Jonathan, Anna, Jacob, Rachel, Jessica and Matthew), and 3 great-grandchildren at the time of his death (Joel, Emily and Julia,) and later Elisheva, Nachman, Nathan, Noah, Stella, Isabella, Sophia, Gavriel, Constantino, Gabriel, Racheli, Cathryn, Hannah, Shana, Sebastian, Lucas, Benyamin, Jordan, Aryeh, Luke, Oscar, and Eliyahu, for a total of 25 great grandchildren as of 2023. In World War II, Devons served as a senior scientific officer in the Air Ministry, Ministry of Aircraft Production and Ministry of Supply, working on antiaircraft barrages, microwaves, and radar. During the war, he became a liaison officer for the US and UK, posted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology radiation laboratory. At the end of the war, he served as a British intelligence officer in Germany, assisting in the interrogation of surrendered scientists. In 2005, he was honored for 50 years as a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Institutional history Lecturer in Physics, University of Cambridge, 1946–49, Professor of Physics, Imperial College London, 1950–55 Langworthy Professor of Physics and Director of Physical Laboratories, University of Manchester, 1955–60. Professor of Physics at Columbia University, New York, 1960–85, Department Chair, 1963–67 and Professor Emeritus until he died of congestive heart failure in 2006.

Works The Excited States of Nuclei (1949) Biology and Physical Sciences (1969) (ed.) High Energy Physics and Nuclear Structure (1970) (ed.)

References

External links Finding aid to the Samuel Devons Papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/06/12/devon061212.html https://web.archive.org/web/20070211003923/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2121638.ece Obituary

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Samuel Devons

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Samuel Devons claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Samuel Devons before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Samuel Devons ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Samuel Devons

In research: Samuel Devons appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Samuel Devons in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Samuel Devons is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1914 births, 2006 deaths, 20th-century British physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Samuel Devons outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Samuel Devons in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Samuel Devons means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Samuel Devons out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Samuel Devons in simple terms?

Samuel Devons FRS (30 September 1914 – 6 December 2006) was a British physicist and science historian. Biography Devons' parents were David Isaac Devons, a Lithuanian immigrant (1881–1926), and Edith Edelston from York (1891–1938).

Why does Samuel Devons matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Samuel Devons?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Samuel Devons.