Lives of the First World War

Sir Ralph Howard Fowler OBE FRS (17 January 1889 – 28 July 1944) was a British physicist and astronomer. He won a scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge. In the First World War he obtained a commission in the Royal Marine Artillery and was seriously wounded in his shoulder in the Gallipoli Campaign. The wound enabled his friend Archibald Hill to use his talents properly. As Hill's second in command he worked on anti-aircraft ballistics in the Experimental Department of HMS Excellent on Whale Island. He made a major contribution on the aerodynamics of spinning shells. He was awarded the OBE in 1918.