Cavendish Laboratory Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics. The laboratory moved to its present site in West Cambridge in 1974. , 29 Cavendish researchers have won Nobel Prizes. The Cavendish Laboratory was initially located on the New Museums Site, Free School Lane, in the centre of Cambridge. After perennial space problems, it moved to its present site in West Cambridge in the early 1970s. The oak door
Cavendish Professor of Physics his death, being universally agreed upon as the only successor. Raleigh spent £1500 updating the laboratory, and created a new practical course, revolutionising practical instruction, and in 1882 he allowed women to take the course as well. In his five years as Cavendish Professor, he published 50 papers and expanded the number of students to 48. J. J. Thomson was made Cavendish Professor in 1884 at the age of 28, leading one senior member of the University to comment that "Matters have come to a pretty pass when they elect mere boys Professors." In 1895, a change was made to