1-157-200 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

William Crookes, British physicist and chemist, 1903. Crookes (1832-1919) holding the discharge tube which carries his name. After studying at the Royal College of Chemistry, London, Crookes went on to make significant contributions in several fields of science. He invented the radiometer (1873-1876), a device that responds to light or other electromagnetic radiation (which led to research in vacuum physics), and the spinthariscope (1903) which made individual alpha particles visible. He also discovered the element thallium, and was an authority on sanitation and agriculture. Cartoon from Vanity Fair, London, May 1903.