Sir Edward Appleton
Appleton, Sir Edward (Victor) (1892-1965), a British physicist. He received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1947 for his investigations of the upper atmosphere, especially his discovery of the "F" layer of the ionosphere. His technique of bouncing radio waves off various layers of the ionosphere was instrumental in the development of radar.
Appleton attended Cambridge University and taught at the University of London and at Cambridge. He served as secretary of the British government's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research from 1939 to 1949, when he was appointed principal and vice chancellor of the University of Edinburgh. Appleton was knighted in 1941.