Charles Eryl Wynn-Williams (1903 to 1979) was a Welsh physicist recognized for advancing electronic instrumentation in nuclear physics research. In 1932 he invented the scale-of-two counter, a device that let scientists detect and count particles at far higher rates than before, and his work proved instrumental in the discovery of the neutron by James Chadwick. During the Second World War he applied his expertise to codebreaking, helping develop machines that preceded the Colossus computer.
Facts
AwardDennis Gabor Medal and Prize 1 FAQs
How did the scale-of-two counter actually count?
Thyratron valves chained in pairs, each pair counting every second pulse of the one before, so the count builds up in binary.
Wynn-Williams connected thyratrons, a type of electronic valve, in pairs and chained the pairs in series, so that each pair responded to only every second pulse received from the pair before it. He called the invention the scale-of-two counter. The Centre for Computing History notes that the Cavendish Laboratory physicists quickly put these counters to use, including James Chadwick in the experiments that led to the discovery of the neutron in 1932, and describes the device as marking the start of binary numbers in electronic computation.
In the Other Atlases
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Sources
1. Wikidata: C. E. Wynn-Williams
Wikidata Q5006423, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.