Jenkin, John G.

Summary

John Jenkin was born, raised, and educated in Adelaide, South Australia, and graduated B.Sc. with first-class honours in physics from the University of Adelaide in 1960. He then completed a Ph.D. in low-energy nuclear physics at the Australian National University in Canberra, and held post-doctoral appointments at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, England, and the University of Minnesota, USA. The remainder of his career has been spent at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, where he became Reader and Head of the Department of Physics (1968-1992), and then joined the History and Philosophy of Science program in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (1993-1999). His research at La Trobe has concerned the electronic properties of materials (in Physics) and the history of the physical sciences in Australia (in Humanities). He retired in 2000 and became an Emeritus Scholar in the Philosophy Program at La Trobe.

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Jenkin, John, The Bragg Family in Adelaide: a Pictorial Celebration (Adelaide: University of Adelaide, 1986). Details
• Jenkin, John, William and Lawrence Bragg: the Most Extraordinary Collaboration in Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), 458 pp. Details
• Ophel, Trevor and Jenkin, John, Fire in the Belly: the First Fifty Years of the Pioneer School at the ANU (Canberra: Research School of Physical Science and Engineering, Institute of Advanced Studies, ANU, 1996), 157 pp. Details

Book Sections

• Ducker, Sophie C.; and Jenkin, John, 'Wood, Edward James Ferguson (1904-1972), marine microbiologist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 16: 1940 - 1980 Pik-Z, John Ritchie and Diane Langmore, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002), p. 577. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wood-edward-james-ferguson-12062. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'Brose, Henry Herman Leopold (1890-1965), scientist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 13: 1940 - 1980 A-De, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1993), pp. 269-270. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/brose-henry-herman-leopold-adolph-9594. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'Mitchell, Sir Mark Ledingham (1902-1977), biochemist and university chancellor' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 15: 1940 - 1980 Kem-Pie, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2000), pp. 383-384. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mitchell-sir-mark-ledingham-11139. Details
• Jenkin, John and Home, R.W., 'Kleeman, Richard Daniel (1875-1932), physicist' in Australian dictionary of biography: supplement 1580 - 1980, with a name index to the Australian dictionary of biography to 1980, Christopher Cunneen, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2005), pp. 218-219. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kleeman-richard-daniel-13028. Details
• Jenkin, John; and Home, R.W., 'Jauncey, George Eric Macdonnell (1888-1947), physicist' in Australian dictionary of biography: supplement 1580 - 1980, with a name index to the Australian dictionary of biography to 1980, Christopher Cunneen, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2005), pp. 201-202. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/jauncey-george-eric-macdonnell-13006. Details
• Newton, J. O.; and Jenkin, John, 'Titterton, Sir Ernest William (1916-1990), professor of nuclear physics' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 18: 1981 - 1990 L-Z, Melanie Nolan, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2012), pp. 510-2. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/titterton-sir-ernest-william-973. Details

Journal Articles

• Jenkin, J., '200 Years of Physics in Australia', Australian Science Teachers Journal, 34 (2) (1988), 71-75. Details
• Jenkin, J., 'Physical Scientists in Australia: Sources for Their History and Achievements', Reference Australia, 4 (July) (1989), 12-24. Details
• Jenkin, J. G.; and Home, R. W., 'Horace Lamb and Early Physics Teaching in Australia', Historical Records of Australian Science, 10 (4) (1995), 349-380. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9951040349. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'The Cavendish Tradition in Australian Physics - Time for a Change', Australian Physicist, 20 (1983), 46-50. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'William Henry Bragg, 1862-1942: Man and Scientist, by G.M. Caroe', Australian Physicist, 20 (1983), 179-180. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'Reflections on a Scientific Parting of the Ways', Record (La Trobe University), 20 (3) (1986), 6-7. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'William Bragg in Adelaide: and Finally Golf', Australian Physicist, 23 (1986), 138-140. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'The 1901 Royal Visit to Adelaide: an Account by William and Gwendoline Bragg', Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, 14 (1986), 19-34. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'W. H. Bragg and the Public Image of Science in Australia', Search, 18 (1) (1987), 34-37. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'Henry Herman Leopold Adolph Brose: Vagaries of an Extraordinary Australian Scientist', Historical Records of Australian Science, 12 (3) (1999), 287-312. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9991230287. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'Henry L. Brose: an extraordinary Australian physicist', The Physicist, 37 (3) (2000), 60-65. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'A Unique Partnership: William and Lawrence Bragg and the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics', Minerva, 39 (2001), 373-392. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'G. E. M. Jauncey and the Compton Effect', Physics in Perspective, 4 (3) (2002), 320-332. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'William Henry Bragg in Adelaide: Beginning Research at a Colonial Locality', Isis, 95 (1) (2004), 58-90. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'Braggs' law or Bragg's law?', Australian Physicist, 49 (2012), 72.9. Details
• Jenkin, John, 'The Braggs, x-ray crystallography, and Lawrence Bragg's sound-ranging in World War I', Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 40 (3) (2015), 222-43. Details
• Jenkin, John G., 'Letter to the Editor About William Bragg and Tennis at Cambridge', Australian Physicist, 18 (7) (1981), 131. Details
• Jenkin, John G., 'William Bragg in Adelaide; Tennis Too!', Australian Physicist, 18 (4) (1981), 69-70. Details
• Jenkin, John G., 'Frederick Soddy's 1904 Visit to Australia and the Subsequent Soddy-Bragg Correspondence: Isolation from without and within', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (2) (1985), 153-170. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9850620153. Details
• Jenkin, John G., 'The Appointment of W.H. Bragg, FRS, to the University of Adelaide', Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 40 (1) (1985), 75-79. Details
• Jenkin, John G., 'British Influence on Australian Physics, 1788-1988', Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 13 (1990), 93-100. Details
• Jenkin, John G.; Liesegang, J.; Leckey, R.C.G.; and Riley, J.D., 'Was the 'First' Angle-Resolved Photoemission Experiment Done by a Nobel-Prize Winning Physicist at Adelaide University in 1908', Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena, 15 (1979), 307-322. Details

Reviews

• Jenkin, John, 'William Henry Bragg 1862-1942: man and scientist'
  Jenkin, John, Historical Records of Australian Science, 5 (2), (1981), 123-124. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9810520123. Details
• Campbell, John, Rutherford: Scientist Supreme (1999)
  Jenkin, John, Historical Records of Australian Science, 13 (3), (2001), 364-365. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR0011330351. Details
• Gascoigne, John with Curthoys, Patricia, The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia (2002)
  Jenkin, John, Isis, 94 (3), (2003), 524-525. Details
• Hunter, Graeme K., Light is a Messenger: the Life and Science of William Lawrence Bragg (2004)
  Jenkin, John, Historical Records of Australian Science, 16 (1), (2005), 111-113. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR05006. Details
• Copeland, Jack, ed., The Rutherford Journal: the New Zealand Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (2005)
  Jenkin, John, Historical Records of Australian Science, 17 (2), (2006), 298-299, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR06009. Details
• Moyal, Ann, Maverick Mathematician: the Life and Science of J. E. Moyal (2006)
  Jenkin, John, Historical Records of Australian Science, 18 (1), (2007), 139-41, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR07006. Details
• Cryle, Denis, Behind the legend: the many worlds of Charles Todd (2017)
  Jenkin, John, Historical Records of Australian Science, 29 (1), (2018), 57, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR18901. Details
• Cross, Roger T., Fallout: Hedley Marston and the British bomb tests in Australia, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, South Australia, 2001, 226 pp.
  Robin, Libby; Jenkin, John, Historical Records of Australian Science, 14 (2), (2002), 209-210. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR02011. Details