The papers are extensive, relating to almost every aspect of Blackett's career in science and public life. There is biographical and personal material including large numbers of letters of congratulation received on the occasion of the various scientific and public awards and honours with which Blackett's achievements were recognised. There are records of his work on particle disintegration, cosmic rays, astrophysics and magnetism in the form of laboratory notebooks, working papers, correspondence, lectures, publications and broadcasts. There is documentation of his activities on various defence projects and as a member of government committees before, during and after the Second World War. Blackett's political interests are represented by material relating to the Association of Scientific Workers, Labour Party discussion groups on science and technology policy and the Ministry of Technology instituted after the Party's 1964 electoral victory. There are records of a wide range of science-related interests such as the history of science and technology, science, education and government, and nuclear weapons and disarmament, and of his overseas activities including material relating specifically to India and that concerned with matters more generally affecting developing countries.

A few lacunae in the surviving material have been identified. There are no documents relative to Blackett's service with the National Research and Development Corporation or the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and, of his correspondence during the Second World War, only that for 1942 survives.

Papers of Professor Herbert Dingle, 1904-1978, comprising personal papers, 1904-1970, notably papers relating to appointments at Imperial College, 1924-1927, and University of London, 1946-1970; lecture course on astronomy, 1930-1931; visits abroad, 1932-1965; articles for publication, in various scientific and other journals, concerning astronomy, cosmology, history of science, religion and philosophy;
correspondence relating to publications and with readers, 1921-1974, with publishers, societies and institutions, 1924-1978, including scripts and agreements with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC); correspondence and papers relating to material published in Nature, 1929-1978, notably on the special theory of relativity; correspondence with individuals, notably with Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, 1958-1969, Max Born, 1941-1969, Sir Cyril Lodowic Burt, 1951-1959, Ernest Geoffrey Cullwick, 1954-1968, Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, 1935-1944, John Anthony Hardinge Giffard, 1955-1968, Desmond George King-Hele, 1967-1975, Sir William Hunter McCrea, 1955-1975, John Theodore Cuthbert Moore-Brabazon, 1939-1947, Dorothy Leigh Sayers, 1950-1957, Erwin Schrödinger, 1940-1959, Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker, 1938-1956; press cuttings, review articles relating to Dingle's publications, obituaries, 1922-1973.

Papers of Professor Alfred Fowler, 1903-1935, including observations on the sun, 1903-1910; laboratory notebooks, 1906-1913; telescope design, 1906-1910; miscellaneous correspondence, 1916-1935.

The correspondence and papers of Thomas Gold, astrophysicist, 1920-2004. The papers that comprise this collection provide a fascinating insight into Thomas Gold's research, views and life as an academic. They relate to almost very aspect of his career from his work at the Admiralty Signal Establishment, research into the theory of hearing and controversy over his proposal that the surface of the moon would be covered with a layer of fine-grained rock powder, to his advocacy of the contentious theory that oil and gas deposits are non-biological (abiogenic) in origin and his proposal, proved correct, that microbial life exists deep beneath the earth's surface.

Records of the Department of Physics of Imperial College, 1882-1985, including a departmental history from 1851-1960; papers relating to courses, 1885-1982, including course syllabus, 1885, 1903, 1928; laboratory experiment papers, 1982; research on uranium, 1940-1941; laboratory notes, 1895; papers relating to a departmental photograph, [1893]; lecture notes, 1892;
correspondence, including with the adminstration department, of Professor Hugh Longbourne Callendar, 1908-1929; Professor Robert John Strutt, 1908-1920; Professor Alfred Fowler, 1910-1924; Professor Frederic John Cheshire, 1917-1925; Professor Louis Claude Martin, 1917-1950; Professor Alexander Oliver Rankine, 1927-1937; relating to photography, 1945-1951; Rectors' correspondence, 1955-1980; purchase of equipment, 1965-1974; examination papers, 1933-1969; inventories of apparatus, 1947-1969; students' newspapers, 1985;

papers relating to Astronomical Physics, including reports of the Solar Physics Committee, 1882-1911; demonstrations and practical work, 1889-1931; Spectroscopic laboratory record, 1906-1936, equipment, 1912; examinations notebook, 1883-1921; Astronomical laboratory visitors' book, 1907-1914 (KPA);

correspondence of Professor Herbert Dingle, 1928-1944, principally relating to the acquistion of a spectrograph (KPAB); correspondence of Reginald William Blake Pearse, 1931-1950 (KPAC); papers written by Sir William de Wiveslie Abney (printed), 1874-1917 (KPC);

course booklet for Atmospheric Physics, [1977] (KPM); papers of the Applied Optics Section, including correspondence, 1912-1918; minutes and correspondence of the Technical Optics (later Applied Optics) Committee, 1918-1974; papers relating to events, including open day, 1961; Jubilee celebrations, 1968; 60th anniversary celebrations, 1978; general papers, 1943-1979 (KPT); inventory of apparatus, 1917-1960 (KPTA).