Derek Jackson

Derek Jackson
Born	(1906-06-23)23 June 1906
Died	20 February 1982(1982-02-20) (aged 75) Lausanne, Switzerland
Nationality	British
Fields	spectroscopy
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Notable awards	Fellow of the Royal Society

Professor Derek Ainslie Jackson, DFC, AFC, OBE FRS,(23 June 1906 – 20 February 1982) was a spectroscopist and also a jockey.

Derek Jackson was one of the outstanding atomic physicists of his generation.

Biography

Son of a wealthy Welshman, Sir Charles Jackson, who was both a leading authority on antique silver and chairman of the News of the World, Jackson showed early promise in the field of spectroscopy under the guidance of Professor Frederick Lindemann (Lord Cherwell), making the first quantitative determination of a nuclear magnetic spin using atomic spectroscopy to measure the hyperfine structure of caesium.

His scientific research at Oxford did not, however, interfere with his other great passion – steeplechase riding – which led him from the foxhunting field to his first ride in the Grand National in 1935. (He rode in two more Nationals after the war, the last time when he was 40 years old.)

In World War II Jackson distinguished himself in the RAF, making an important scientific contribution to Britain’s air defences and to the bomber offensive. He flew more than a thousand hours as a navigator, many of them in combat in night-fighters, with 604 (County of Middlesex) Squadron based at Middle Wallop. He was decorated with the DFC, AFC and OBE. This war record stands in contrast to his stated desire at the war's inception to keep Britain out of fighting Germany, and his reported desire "that all Jews in England should be killed".

For the rest of his life Professor Jackson, appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1947, lived as a tax exile in Ireland, France and Switzerland. He continued his spectroscopic work in France at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, and was made a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur.

Jackson had what might be called a colourful personal life. A "rampant bisexual", he was married six times, and also lived for three years with the half-sister of one of his wives. The others included a daughter of Augustus John, Pamela Mitford (one of the Mitford sisters), a princess and the femme fatale Barbara Skelton.