Charles Galton Darwin (19.02.1887-31.12.1962) was an English theoretical physicist and a Fellow of the Royal Society (1922). He was the grandson of the well-known naturalist
C. Darwin. He was born in Cambridge. He graduated from the University of Cambridge (1910). In 1910—14 he worked at the University of Manchester, in 1919—22 and 1936-38 at Cambridge, in 1924-36 he was professor at the University of Edinburgh, and in 1938—49 director of the National Physical Laboratory.
His research was in the field of optics, statistical mechanics and atomic physics. He laid the foundations of the theory of the diffraction of X-rays (1913). He developed the dynamical theory of dispersion and a quantum-mechanical theory of the electron close to Dirac's. He confirmed Sommerfeld's fine-structure formula and Landé's formula for the Zeeman splitting. He developed the mathematical methods of statistical mechanics and in particular proposed (1922) a method of calculating statistical integrals. In 1936 he constructed a theory of the Tolman–Stewart effect.
The Royal Medal (1935).