PHYSICIST

John Sealy Townsend

1868 - 1957

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Sir John Sealy Edward Townsend (; 7 June 1868 – 16 February 1957) was an Irish physicist who conducted various studies concerning the electrical conduction of gases (concerning the kinetics of electrons and ions) and directly measured the electric charge. He was a Wykeham Professor of Physics at Oxford University. The phenomenon of the electron avalanche was discovered by him, and is known as the Townsend discharge. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. John Sealy Townsend is the 654th most popular physicist (down from 542nd in 2019), the 229th most popular biography from Ireland (down from 140th in 2019) and the 6th most popular Irish Physicist.

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Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, John Sealy Townsend ranks 654 out of 851Before him are César Lattes, Charles W. Misner, John Polkinghorne, Christian Møller, Giovanni Giorgi, and Bernard Lovell. After him are William Higinbotham, Edward Condon, Brian Greene, C. V. Boys, Paul Scherrer, and Alexis Thérèse Petit.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1868, John Sealy Townsend ranks 169Before him are José Serrato, Edgar Adams, Ștefan Luchian, Reynold A. Nicholson, Ladislaus Bortkiewicz, and Charles Wallace Richmond. After him are Albert William Herre, Kenjirō Tokutomi, Grace Chisholm Young, Guy de la Chapelle, Achille Paroche, and Paul Warburg. Among people deceased in 1957, John Sealy Townsend ranks 175Before him are Martin Wagner, Harry Watson, Patrick Abercrombie, Piero Carini, Hjalmar Johansson, and József Rády. After him are Ronald Knox, Guillermo Saavedra, Wilhelm Nusselt, Reginald Aldworth Daly, Dennis Brain, and P. C. Chang.

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In Ireland

Among people born in Ireland, John Sealy Townsend ranks 229 out of 549Before him are William Trevor (1928), Jane Wilde (1821), Sara Allgood (1879), John Bruton (1947), John Boyne (1971), and William Stokes (1804). After him are John Philip Holland (1840), Willoughby Hamilton (1864), Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander (1909), Ray McAnally (1926), Garret FitzGerald (1926), and Margaret Mazzantini (1961).

Among PHYSICISTS In Ireland

Among physicists born in Ireland, John Sealy Townsend ranks 6Before him are William Rowan Hamilton (1805), George Francis FitzGerald (1851), Ernest Walton (1903), John Tyndall (1820), and George Johnstone Stoney (1826). After him are John Joly (1857).