Discoveries: Professor MacGregor-Morris experimenting in the Photometric Laboratory, 1938.
This photograph shows experiments taking place in the Electrical Engineering Department’s Photometric Laboratory. Professor MacGregor-Morris is the figure further back in the picture. He used this laboratory, and the assistance of engineering students, to research the crater of the carbon electric arc as a standard of light.
In 1943 he wrote a paper entitled ‘Experiment on the Candle-Power and Brightness of the Positive Crater of the Electric Arc, using Solid Carbons and Graphite Electrodes.’ In this paper he investigates how to achieve a high-temperature standard of light. He, like Thurston, was unable to continue with his theoretical discoveries for practical reasons; and concluded that his research was:
‘… beyond the scope of a college laboratory, both on account of the specialized staff required, and because of the special equipment involved.’ In this case MacGregor-Morris strongly recommended that a study of the problems should be made by a National Laboratory. Often scientists have to wait until somebody with more resources can assist them, or continue the research themselves.