Charles Vernon Boys (15.03.1855 - 30.03.1944) was an English experimental physicist and a Fellow of the Royal Society (1888). He was born in Wing. He studied (1873-76) at the Royal School of Mines (Cambridge). In 1889—97 he was professor at the Royal College of Science in London, in 1897—1943 he worked as a Metropolitan Gas Referee, and from 1897 he was professor at the Royal School of Mines.
His work was in the fields of optics, mechanics and heat. He improved (1895) the torsion balance, with which he determined the gravitational constant and the density of the Earth. He invented (1887) the radiomicrometer and used it to measure the heat from the Moon and the planets (for the surface temperature of Jupiter, in particular, he obtained a value of less than 100 °C). He constructed a calorimeter. He produced (1888) quartz glass and proposed using quartz fibres instead of silk threads. He developed a method of determining the refractive index of lenses (the Boys method). He photographed lightning and electric sparks. By photographic methods he studied liquids (1886).
In 1916—17 he was president of the Physical Society of London. The Royal Medal (1896), the Rumford Medal (1924) and others. The C. Boys Prize was established by the Physical Society of London.