John Nye (scientist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Nye
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| Born | February 26, 1923 |
| Died | January 8, 2019 (aged 95) |
| Nationality | British |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | University of Bristol |
| Notable students | Heidy Mader |
John Frederick Nye (born February 26, 1923 – died January 8, 2019) was a smart British scientist. He was a physicist, which means he studied how things work in the natural world. He was also a glaciologist, someone who studies glaciers. John Nye was the first scientist to use the idea of plasticity to understand how glaciers flow. Plasticity is about how materials can change shape permanently when a force is applied.
John Nye's Work
John Nye spent a lot of his early career studying the physics of how things change shape, especially ice. He looked at how ice flows and moves, and he even did experiments in a lab to measure it. He studied how glaciers suddenly speed up, how meltwater gets into the ice, and how glaciers change with the seasons and climate.
Later in his long career, he also worked a lot on optics. This is the study of light and how it behaves. He even published his last paper about how light waves are organized just a few days before he passed away.
Awards and Important Roles
John Nye was a very respected scientist. In 1976, he was chosen to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a big honor for scientists in the UK.
He also led important groups that study glaciers and ice. He was the president of the International Glaciological Society from 1966 to 1969. This society even gave him a special award called the Seligman Crystal in 1969 because of his amazing work in glaciology. He also led another international group that studies snow and ice.
Every year, a group called the Cryosphere Focus Group of the American Geophysical Union holds a special lecture named after him, called the Nye Lecture.
Other Achievements
In 1989, John Nye won the Chree medal and prize. He was also a professor at the University of Bristol in the UK. Besides studying glaciers, he was interested in caustics (which are bright patterns of light) and microwave probes.
John Nye passed away on January 8, 2019, when he was 95 years old.
Books by John Nye
John Nye wrote several important books about his research:
- J.F. Nye, 1957, Physical Properties of Crystals: Their Representation by Tensors and Matrices. This book is about how crystals behave and how to describe their properties using math.
- J.F. Nye, 1999, Natural Focusing and Fine Structure of Light: Caustics and Wave Dislocations. This book explores how light naturally focuses and creates interesting patterns.
See also
- Nye Glacier
- Nye notation
- N-channel
- Ice-sheet dynamics
- Bubble raft
