Guy Kendall White 1925–2018
Stephen J. Collocott A * and Trevor R. Finlayson BA (Formerly CSIRO) 9 Harbourside Crescent, Port Macquarie, NSW 2444, Australia.
B School of Physics and Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3010, Australia.
Historical Records of Australian Science 34(1) 63-74 https://doi.org/10.1071/HR22013
Published: 13 December 2022
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Academy of Science.
Abstract
Guy Kendall White graduated from the University of Sydney, obtaining a BSc (Hons) (1st class) in 1945 and an MSc in 1947. He attended the University of Oxford and obtained a DPhil, studying low-temperature physics in the Clarendon Laboratory. He had a productive research career as a condensed matter experimental physicist, focusing on transport and thermophysical properties of solids at low temperatures. He had an extensive network of international collaborators and, in 1959, authored Experimental Techniques in Low-Temperature Physics, which came to be regarded as an essential handbook for those doing low-temperature physics. He was a world leader in the field of thermal expansion in solids at low temperatures. He produced important compilations of thermophysical data that are of great value to technologists, scientists and engineers. He was influential in the development of the discipline of solid state physics in Australia, and his mentoring launched the careers of many young scientists.
Keywords: Australian condensed matter physics, Guy White, low-temperature thermal expansion.
References
Barron, T. H. K., and White, G. K. (1999) Heat Capacity and Thermal Expansion at Low Temperatures, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York.Barron, T. H. K., Collins, J. G., and White, G. K. (1980) Thermal expansion of solids at low temperatures, Advances in Physics, 29, 609–730.
| Thermal expansion of solids at low temperaturesCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cahn, R. W. (2001) The Coming of Materials Science, Pergamon, pp. 526–529.
Fenner, F. (2005) The Australian Academy of Science: the First Fifty Years, Australian Academy of Science.
Finlayson, T. R., and Stewart, G. A. (2015) Whither ‘Wagga’? The history of our National Condensed Matter and Materials Conference, Australian Physics, 52, 158–165.
Lyon, K. G., Salinger, G. L., Swenson, C. A., and White, G. K. (1977) Linear thermal-expansion measurements on silicon from 6 to 340 K, Journal of Applied Physics, 48, 865–868.
| Linear thermal-expansion measurements on silicon from 6 to 340 KCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
MacDonald, D. K. C., White, G. K., and Woods, S. B. (1956) Thermal and electrical conductivities of the alkali metals at low temperatures, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A, 235, 358–375.
| Thermal and electrical conductivities of the alkali metals at low temperaturesCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Madelung, O., and White, G. K. (eds) (1991) Metals: Electronic Transport Phenomena: Thermal Conductivity of Pure Metals and Alloys, Landbolt-Börnstein, vol. 111/15c, Springer-Verlag.
Miles, J. R. (1991) Studies of Thermal and Magnetic Properties of Fe3-xMnxSi Alloys. Thesis, Monash University, p. 25.
Rayne, J. A., Collins, J. G., and White, G. K. (1981) Low-temperature thermal expansion of CsNiCl3 and RbNiCl3, Journal of Applied Physics, 52, 1977–1979.
| Low-temperature thermal expansion of CsNiCl3 and RbNiCl3Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Rivett, D. (1941) The Australian National Standards Laboratory, Nature, 147, 302.
| The Australian National Standards LaboratoryCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Smith, T. F., and Finlayson, T. R. (1976) Thermal expansion of BCC solid solution alloys in the system Zr-Nb-Mo-Re, Journal of Physics F: Metal Physics, 6, 709–723.
| Thermal expansion of BCC solid solution alloys in the system Zr-Nb-Mo-ReCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Smith, T. F., and White, G. K. (1975) The low-temperature thermal expansion and Grüneisen parameters of some tetrahedrally bonded solids, Journal of Physics C: Solid State Physics, 8, 2031–2042.
| The low-temperature thermal expansion and Grüneisen parameters of some tetrahedrally bonded solidsCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Thompson, A. M. (1958) The precise measurement of small capacitances, Institute of Radio Engineers Transactions on Instrumentation, 1-7, 245–253.
| The precise measurement of small capacitancesCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Thompson, A. M., and Lampard, D. G. (1956) A new theorem in electrostatics and its application to calculable standards of capacitance, Nature, 177, 888.
| A new theorem in electrostatics and its application to calculable standards of capacitanceCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
White, G. K. (1959) Experimental Techniques in Low Temperature Physics, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
White, G. K. (1960) Thermal expansion at lLow temperatures, Nature, 187, 927–929.
| Thermal expansion at lLow temperaturesCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
White, G. K. (1961) Measurement of thermal expansion at low temperatures, Cryogenics, 1, 151–158.
| Measurement of thermal expansion at low temperaturesCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
White, G. K. (1965) Thermal expansion of magnetic metals at low temperatures, Proceedings of the Physical Society, 86, 159–169.
| Thermal expansion of magnetic metals at low temperaturesCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
White, G. K. (1968) Experimental Techniques in Low Temperature Physics, 2nd ed., Clarendon Press, Oxford.
White, G. K. (1979) Experimental Techniques in Low Temperature Physics, 3rd ed., Clarendon Press, Oxford.
White, G. K. (ed.) (1980) ‘Annual General Meeting Symposia, Silver Jubilee Symposia, 1979’, Changing Views in the Physical World, vol. 2: 1954–1979.
White, G. K., and Collins, J. G. (1972) Thermal expansion of copper, silver and gold at low temperatures, Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 7, 43–75.
| Thermal expansion of copper, silver and gold at low temperaturesCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
White, G. K., and Collocott, S. J. (1984) Heat capacity of reference materials: Cu and W, Journal of Physical and Chemical Reference Data, 13, 1251–1257.
| Heat capacity of reference materials: Cu and WCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
White, G. K. and Davies, L. W. (eds) (1989) ‘Annual General Meeting Symposia’, in Applications of New Materials.
White, G. K. and Meeson, P. J. (2002) Experimental Techniques in Low Temperature Physics, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
White, G. K., Smith, T. F., and Birch, J. A. (1976) Thermal expansion and Grüneisen parameters of a polyoxymethylene crystal, The Journal of Chemical Physics, 65, 554–558.
| Thermal expansion and Grüneisen parameters of a polyoxymethylene crystalCrossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
White, G. K., Collins, J. G., Birch, J. A., Smith, T. F., and Finlayson, T. R. (1978) ‘Thermal expansion of BCC solid solution alloys: Nb-Mo’, in International Conference Series No. 39, Transition Metals 1977: Proceedings of the International Conference on Physics of Transition Metals, Toronto, August 1977, eds M. J. G. Lee, J. M. Perz, and E. Fawcett, Institute of Physics, London, Ch. 6, pp. 420–425.
