Editing James Chadwick (section)

== Later life ==
Shortly after the war ended, Chadwick was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Atomic Energy (ACAE). He was also appointed as the British scientific advisor to the [[United Nations Atomic Energy Commission]]. He clashed with fellow ACAE member [[Patrick Blackett]], who disagreed with Chadwick's conviction that Britain needed to acquire its own nuclear weapons; but it was Chadwick's position that was ultimately adopted. He returned to Britain in 1946, to find a country still beset by wartime rationing and shortages.{{sfn|Brown|1997|pp=306, 316}}

At this time, Sir James Mountford, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, wrote in his diary "he had never seen a man 'so physically, mentally and spiritually tired" as Chadwick, for he "had plumbed such depths of moral decision as more fortunate men are never called upon even to peer into&nbsp;... [and suffered]&nbsp;... almost insupportable agonies of responsibility arising from his scientific work'."{{sfn|Brown|1997|p=323}}

In 1948, Chadwick accepted an offer to become the [[Master (college)|Master]] of Gonville and Caius College. The job was prestigious but ill-defined; the Master was the titular head of the college, but authority actually resided in a council of 13 fellows, of whom one was the Master. As Master, Chadwick strove to improve the academic reputation of the college. He increased the number of research fellowships from 31 to 49, and sought to bring talent into the college.{{sfn|Brown|1997|pp=340–353}} This involved controversial decisions, such as hiring in 1951 the Chinese biochemist [[Tien-chin Tsao]]{{sfn|Zhang|2010}} and the Hungarian-born economist [[Peter Thomas Bauer|Peter Bauer]]. In what became known as the Peasants' Revolt, fellows led by [[Patrick Hadley]] voted an old friend of Chadwick's off the council and replaced him with Bauer. More friends of Chadwick's were removed over the following years, and he retired in November 1958. It was during his mastership that [[Francis Crick]], a PhD student at Gonville and Caius College, and [[James Watson]] discovered the structure of [[DNA]].{{sfn|Brown|1997|pp=340–353}}

By the 1970s Chadwick became more frail, and seldom left his flat, although he travelled to Liverpool for celebrations of his eightieth birthday. A lifelong atheist, he saw no reason to adopt religious faith in later life. He died in his sleep on 24 July 1974.{{sfn|Brown|1997|pp=360–363}}