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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.

Correspondence and papers relating to the Royal Society relations with the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU), current files contain:

a) British National Committee for Geodynamics (BNC Geodynamics) 8 files, 1970-1980

b) International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) 24 files, 1963-1980

c) International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) loose papers, 1980-1982

d) International Union of Radio Science (URSI) 6 files, 1968-1976

e) International Biological Programme (IBP) 4 files, 1970-1975 (but a much larger collection of IBP papers from the Society's modern records centre has been microfilmed between 2001-2005 and the originals destroyed because of their poor physical condition). The archive holds mateial relating to the International Geophysical Year (IGY), 1957-1958, particularly the establishment, administration and scientific results from the Royal Society Base at Halley Bay, Antarctica.

Some correspondence, papers, notebooks and publications of Sir James Hopwood Jeans. Early manuscripts in the series relate to Jean's education at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the form of early lecture notebooks, largely on mathematical topics. A collection of letters, 1901-1907, documents his treatment for tuberculosis at Ringwood Sanatorium, where he completed work on the theory of gases; correspondents included G H Hardy and Adam Sedgewick among others. Jean's engagements in popularizing science are represented by proofs and typescript of lectures and essays, especially those written for the BBC, 1934-1935, together with associated letters and press cuttings. The series contains collections of offprints, reprints, and extracts of published works by Jeans and others, notably from the Philosophical Transactions and the Philosophical Magazine.