Collection OM/45 - Samuel Curran papers

Identity area

Reference code

GB 249 OM/45

Title

Samuel Curran papers

Date(s)

  • 1951 - 2004 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

9 metres

Context area

Name of creator

(1912-1998)

Biographical history

Samuel Curran, internationally respected nuclear physicist and first principal of the University of Strathclyde, was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, his mother's home town, but spent his childhood and youth in Wishaw, Lanarkshire. After schooling at Wishaw High School, Curran graduated with first class honours in mathematics and natural philosophy from Glasgow University and joined the University Physics Department as a PhD student in 1934. He researched the diffraction of beta rays of radium and modified and reconstructed Geiger counters. In 1937, Curran moved to St John's College, Cambridge to continue his studies, and worked alongside his fellow student and future wife, Joan Strothers, in the Cavendish Laboratory. During World War II, they joined a small team developing the proximity fuse, which was highly effective in destroying enemy planes and V1 rockets, and radar installation. Curran was seconded in 1944 to the University of California in Berkeley to work on the separation of isotopes of uranium as part of the Manhattan Project (the development of the atomic bomb) and after a period on the staff of Glasgow University, he assisted with the development of a British hydrogen bomb at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in the 1950s. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1953. In 1959, he was invited to become Principal of the Royal College of Science and Technology and to lead the College to University status. He served as principal until his retirement in 1980. Curran was a scientific adviser to government and public bodies, and received many honorary degrees. He was knighted in 1970.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Research papers; lectures and published works; papers relating to official visits by Principal and Lady Curran; diary of Manhattan Project; transcript of filmed interview; papers relating to the development of the Royal College and the University of Strathclyde.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

    Language and script notes

    Physical characteristics and technical requirements

    Finding aids

    Many of the Curran papers are not listed. Partial list available in reading room.

    Allied materials area

    Existence and location of originals

    Existence and location of copies

    Related units of description

    Photographs of Sir Samuel Curran (ref: GB 249 OP/4/201-203, 206-208, 213, 217, 223, 235, 267)

    Related descriptions

    Notes area

    Alternative identifier(s)

    Access points

    Subject access points

    Place access points

    Genre access points

    Description identifier

    Institution identifier

    Language(s)

      Script(s)

        Sources

        Accession area