Thomas Howell Laby FRS[1] (3 May 1880 – 21 June 1946), was an Australian physicist and chemist, Professor of Natural Philosophy, University of Melbourne 1915–1942.
He took evening classes at the university and soon had two papers published by the Royal Society of New South Wales: 'The separation of iron from nickel and cobalt' in 1903 and 'Preliminary observations on radio-activity and the occurrence of radium in Australian minerals' with Sir Douglas Mawson in 1904.
There he received a Bachelor of Arts degree by theses on the ionization produced by alpha-particles and on the supersaturation and nuclear condensation of organic vapours.
He developed valves for an anti-gas respirator, performed radiographic testing of fuses and inspected X-ray equipment for military hospitals.
Laby was awarded a Doctor of Science by the University of Cambridge in 1921 and carried on his research, mainly into heat and X-ray spectroscopy.