Thomas Ralph Merton facts for kids

Sir Thomas Ralph Merton (born January 12, 1888 – died October 10, 1969) was a brilliant English scientist, inventor, and art collector. He was especially known for his amazing work with spectroscopy, which is a way of studying light to learn about different materials, and for creating special tools called diffraction gratings that help split light into its colors.

Early Life and Learning

Thomas Ralph Merton was born in Wimbledon, England. He was the only son of Emile Ralph Merton. His family had a big business dealing with metals.

Thomas went to Eton College, a famous school, where his physics teacher, Dr. T. C. Porter, really encouraged him to start doing scientific research. After Eton, he studied at King's College London and then went to Balliol College, Oxford.

It was quite special that Oxford allowed Thomas to go straight into research without taking his final exams, because he was very talented and had delicate health. He earned his first science degree in 1910 by studying certain solutions. Even when he was still a schoolboy, he had already set up a small lab in his father's house!

In 1912, he married Violet Marjory. They had a very happy marriage that lasted 57 years. Thomas even moved his laboratory to their new home in London.

Studying Light: 1913–1928

From 1913 onwards, Thomas Merton published many scientific papers from his private lab. He had the newest equipment for studying light. At first, he looked at how solutions absorbed light, but he soon moved on to studying the light from gases and stars, which became his main focus. His early experiments were known for being very precise and beautiful.

In 1916, he earned his higher science degree (DSc) from Oxford and became a lecturer at King's College London. He also started working with his friend, the mathematician J. W. Nicholson. Their teamwork was great: Nicholson was good at math, and Merton was skilled at experiments. They studied how light lines (called spectral lines) changed in electric discharges. They even managed to create light patterns in the lab that matched those seen from stars.

In 1919, Oxford made Merton a professor of spectroscopy. He worked on many problems, often with a young student helping him. He became a member of the important Royal Society in 1920. In 1923, Merton left Oxford and moved to Winforton House in Herefordshire, where he had a large estate and enjoyed fishing. He moved his lab there too, so he could do science while also enjoying his hobbies.

The First 'Q' in MI6

The First World War didn't stop his research much. Because of his health, he couldn't join the active military, but he became a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in 1916. In 1915, he was chosen by Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming to work for MI6, which is a secret intelligence service. He was the first scientist to join this new organization.

He did many experiments with different chemical solutions to find secret inks. He successfully found the secret ink used by German spies and even invented a new way for people to write secret messages. His work was so important that he was mentioned in official reports.

Amazing Diffraction Gratings

There was a long break in Merton's scientific papers between 1928 and 1947. During this time, he was busy in his lab and getting patents for his inventions. Diffraction gratings were something he was always interested in. These are special tools with many tiny lines that split light into different colors, like a prism. They are very useful in science.

Good diffraction gratings were rare and expensive. So, in 1935, Merton invented a way to copy them without losing their quality. He would put a thin layer of a special liquid onto an original grating. Once it dried, he would peel off this layer and press it onto a wet gelatine film on a glass plate. When the gelatine dried, it had a perfect copy of the original lines.

In 1948, Merton made an even bigger breakthrough in making diffraction gratings. Before him, gratings were made by carving each groove one by one. Merton instead made a very fine spiral (like a screw thread) on a steel cylinder. He then used his copying method to transfer this spiral onto a flat surface. He even found a clever way to fix any tiny errors in the spiral, making his gratings incredibly precise.

He shared these methods with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), and they became the basis for a lot of research. The special gratings made using Merton's method were very valuable. They helped create affordable tools (like infra-red spectrometers) that could analyze light with high detail for both science and industry. These gratings were also used in engineering for measurements and controlling machines.

Experiments with Cathode Rays

In his father's house lab, Merton used to shoot cathode rays (streams of electrons) at different glowing powders. He noticed that while they glowed brightly, the glow didn't last long. He discovered that this was because the light that made them glow and the light they gave off didn't quite match up. By mixing different powders, he found he could make the afterglow last longer.

He realized that a really long afterglow could be made by using two layers of powders. The light from the back layer would make the front layer glow. He didn't think this had any practical use at the time, so he forgot about it for 33 years. But in 1938, Sir Henry Tizard asked him if he could create such a long afterglow. Merton quickly replied that he could! Soon after, he joined an air defense committee. There, he learned that his discovery had made possible the special two-layer screens used in radar. These radar screens helped greatly in winning the Battle of Britain during World War II.

During the war, he also invented a black paint that made bombers almost invisible to searchlights. He also found a way to use nitrous oxide (laughing gas) in fuel to make fighter planes go faster. Another invention was a special rangefinder for fighters, which was used against V-1 flying bombs (also called "doodlebugs").

Treasurer of the Royal Society

From 1939 to 1956, Merton was the treasurer of the Royal Society, which is a very old and respected scientific organization. His knowledge of business was a huge help. He set up a committee to manage the society's money. Thanks to him, charitable groups were allowed to invest in company shares, which helped their money grow much more than before. The Royal Society's funds increased a lot during his time as treasurer.

Art Collection

In 1930, John, the oldest of Merton's five sons, won an art prize at Eton. This sparked a new interest in art for both Merton and his son. Merton spent months in Italy with John, visiting famous collections of Renaissance paintings. He started to build an amazing collection of artworks from the period between 1450 and 1520.

From 1944 until he passed away, he was part of the scientific advisory board for the National Gallery in London, and he was its chairman from 1957 to 1965. He was also a trustee for the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. Merton was honored with a knighthood in 1944 and later received another high honor (KBE) in 1956 for his work as treasurer of the Royal Academy. He also received important science awards like the Holweck Prize in 1951 and the Rumford medal in 1958.

Sir Thomas collected art based on his own personal taste. His collection focused on the period 1450 to 1520, which gave it a consistent feel, but it still had a wide variety of subjects and techniques. He only chose paintings that were of very high quality and beauty. He especially liked portraits that showed the life and style of their time. He also collected smaller religious paintings meant for private homes, and some fascinating story-telling pictures.

His collection included 22 Italian artworks and 10 from northern European schools. One of the most famous Italian paintings he owned was the Botticelli Portrait of a Young Man holding a Medallion, which is now on loan to the National Gallery of Art, Washington. He also owned works by artists like Bartolommeo Montagna and Signorelli. Among his northern European pictures were portraits, including one now believed to be by a follower of Rogier van der Weyden. Sir Thomas understood how important the frames were to his pictures, and he worked with a skilled framer.

Merton wrote down some of his thoughts about art. He compared art to a "signal to noise ratio" in physics. He meant that in great art, like Michelangelo's Pietà, everything is clear and meaningful ("signal"). But in some modern art, it can be confusing ("noise"). He felt that great artists help us understand and appreciate beauty, rather than making us figure it out ourselves.

Later Life

In 1947, Merton bought Stubbings House in Berkshire. Its large rooms were perfect for his art collection. He was a very wealthy man and kept what was probably the last private physics laboratory in Britain. He continued to do research and get patents for his inventions there. After several serious operations in 1957, he rarely left his home. He passed away there on October 10, 1969.

See also

• William Merton, Thomas Merton's son and a prominent military scientist