I’m working my way fairly systematically through the catalogues of UK archives relating to post-war science and engineering, and thought it would be useful to me, and perhaps others, to keep a running list of scientists’ collections. Here’s the list so far, with links. Let me know, via the comments, if you know more …

(List begun in 2013, updated 2024)

• Edward ABRAHAM at Oxford, Bodleian (2450 items)
• John Frank ADAMS at Cambridge, Trinity College (1211 files)
• Edgar Douglas ADRIAN at Cambridge, Trinity College
• Thomas ALLIBONE at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (25 boxes)
• L. Bruce ARCHER at the Royal College of Art (34 boxes)
• Ove ARUP at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (92 boxes) plus oral history
• William Thomas ASTBURY at Leeds (378 files)
• Francis Thomas BACON at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (2041 files)
• Ralph Alger BAGNOLD at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (12 boxes)
• John Fleetwood BAKER at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (200 boxes)
• John Randal BAKER at Oxford, Bodleian (110 files)
• Ernest Hubert Francis BALDWIN at UCL (425 files)
• Geoffrey Cecil BARKER at Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College (link broken)
• Harold BARLOW at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (19 boxes)
• Leslie Fleetwood BATES at Nottingham
• Geoffrey BEALE at Edinburgh (43 boxes)
• Richard Alan BEATTY at Edinburgh (9 boxes)
• Hugh BEAVER at LSE
• George Douglas Hutton BELL at John Innes Centre
• Thomas Brooke BENJAMIN at Oxford Bodleian (275 files)
• John Desmond BERNAL at Cambridge UL (118 boxes)
• Joseph BLACK at University of Bath (4 boxes)
• Carlos Paton BLACKER at Wellcome Library (29 boxes and online)
• Patrick Maynard Stuart BLACKETT at Royal Society (1362 files)
• Geoffrey Emett BLACKMAN at Oxford Bodleian (286 files)
• Jack BLEARS at Manchester MSIM (28 boxes)
• Walter BODMER at Oxford, Bodleian (2216 boxes)
• David BOHM at Birkbeck (10 boxes)
• Hermann BONDI at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (147 boxes)
• Henry Albert BOOT at IEE (124 files)
• Andrew BOOTH at University of Manchester (21 boxes)
• Max BORN at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (84 boxes)
• Keith Frederick BOWDEN at Essex (96 files)
• Vivian BOWDEN at University of Manchester (293 items)
• Edward George BOWEN at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (11 boxes)
• Lawrence BRAGG at Royal Institution (93 boxes)
• Mogens BRAMSON at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (4 boxes)
• Jeremy BRAY at Cambridge, Churchill College Archives (474 boxes)
• Sydney BRENNER at Cold Spring Harbor and Wellcome Library online
• Egon BRETSCHER at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (34 boxes)
• Mark BRETSCHER at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (11 boxes)
• Jacob BRONOWSKI at Jesus College, Cambridge (in process of cataloguing)
• George Lindor BROWN at the Royal Society
• Frederick BRUNDRETT at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (2 boxes)
• Edward Crisp BULLARD at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (117 boxes)
• Eric Henry Stoneley BURHOP at UCL (49 files)
• George Norman BURKHARDT at Manchester (39 items)
• Joshua Harold BURN at Oxford, History of Neuroscience Library (20 files)
• Guy CALLENDAR at University of East Anglia (9 boxes)
• Roy CAMERON at UCL (12 files)
• James CASSELS at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (5 boxes)
• James CHADWICK at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (73 boxes)
• Ernst Boris CHAIN at Wellcome Library (65 boxes)
• Colin CHERRY at Imperial College (350 files)
• Douglas Richard CHICK at IEE (23 boxes)
• Carol CHURCHER at Wellcome Library (2 boxes)
• Cyril Astley CLARKE at Liverpool (16 boxes)
• Patricia Hannah CLARKE at UCL (9 boxes)
• Robert COCKBURN at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (6 boxes)
• John COCKCROFT at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (124 boxes)
• Brian COLQUHOUN at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (8 boxes)
• David Edwin COOMBE at University of Bath (74 boxes)
• Vernon Ellis COSSLETT at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (127 boxes) plus Cosslett associated papers
• Charles Alfred COULSON at Oxford, Bodleian
• Keith Gordon COX at Oxford MNH (500 items)
• Francis CRICK at Wellcome Library (331 boxes and online) and (6 files) at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre
• Frederick Sydney DAINTON at Sheffield (156 boxes)
• Henry Hallett DALE at Royal Society (1077 files)
• Cyril Dean DARLINGTON at Oxford Bodleian (247 boxes)
• Cyril Dean DARLINGTON at John Innes Centre
• John Grant DAVIES (at Jodrell Bank Archive), Manchester
• Peter DAMSON at Manchester MSIM (276 files)
• George DEACON at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton
• Herbert DINGLE at Imperial College (20 boxes)
• Paul DIRAC at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (9 boxes)
• Robert William DITCHBURN at Reading (4 boxes)
• Athene DONALD at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (126 boxes)
• Wilfrid Hogarth DOWDESWELL at Bath (9 boxes)
• Ian DUNHAM at Wellcome Library (17 boxes, 1 oversize box)
• Richard DURBIN at Wellcome Library (34 boxes)
• Eric EASTWOOD at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (66 boxes)
• James Marmaduke EDMONDS at Oxford MNH (400 items)
• Robert EDWARDS at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (140 boxes)
• Alfred Charles Glyn EGERTON at Royal Society (34 boxes)
• Alfred Charles Glyn EGERTON at Imperial College (12 boxes) (link broken)
• Charles ELTON at Oxford, Bodleian (276 files)
• George Clifford EVANS at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (5 boxes)
• Ulick Richardson EVANS at Cambridge UL
• Norman FEATHER at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (72 boxes)
• Honor Bridget FELL at Wellcome Library (11 boxes, 3 large boxes and online)
• Malcolm FERGUSON-SMITH at Glasgow and Wellcome Library online
• James FISHER at Natural History Museum
• Harold Walter FLOREY at Royal Society (539 files)
• Edmund Brisco FORD at Oxford Bodleian (38 boxes)
• Peter Howard FOWLER at Bristol (33 boxes)
• Harold Munro FOX at Imperial College (7 boxes)
• Frederick Charles FRANK at Bristol (45 boxes)
• Rosalind FRANKLIN at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (24 boxes) and Wellcome Library online
• Albert FREEDMAN at University of Bath (35 boxes)
• Otto Robert FRISCH at Cambridge, Trinity College (70 boxes)
• Dennis GABOR at Imperial College
• Stanley GILL at Science Museum Library (244 files)
• Audrey GLAUERT at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (17 boxes)
• Harry GODWIN at Cambridge, Clare College (6 boxes)
• Thomas GOLD at the Royal Society (28 boxes)
• Charles Frederick GOODEVE at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (40 boxes)
• Alan William GREENWOOD at Edinburgh (6 boxes)
• Hans GRUNEBERG at Wellcome Library (18 boxes and online)
• John Alan GULLAND at Imperial College
• John Burdon Sanderson HALDANE at UCL and Wellcome Library online
• William Donald Hamilton at the British Library (no electronic record, but handlist available at BL)
• Robert HARDINGHAM at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (4 boxes)
• Alister Clavering HARDY at Oxford Bodleian (444 files)
• John Laker HARLEY at Oxford Bodleian
• Geoffrey Wingfield HARRIS at Oxford, Bodleian (24 boxes)
• Douglas HARTREE at Cambridge, Christ’s College (4 boxes)
• Douglas HARTREE at National Archive for the History of Computing, Manchester
• Harold HARTLEY at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (385 boxes)
• Stephen HAWKING at Cambridge UL
• William HAWTHORNE at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (241 boxes) plus (1 box) on The Dracone Project
• Humphrey HEWER at Imperial College (198 items)
• Anthony HEWISH at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (9 boxes)
• Harold HEYWOOD at Imperial College (7 boxes)
• Archibald Vivian HILL at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (71 boxes)
• John McGregor HILL at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (15 boxes)
• Robert HILL at Cambridge UL (45 boxes)
• Christopher HINTON at IME Library (93 boxes)
• Christopher HINTON at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (6 boxes)
• Alan HODGKIN at Trinity College, Cambridge (197 boxes)
• Dorothy Mary Crowfoot HODGKIN at Oxford Bodleian (232 boxes)
• Lancelot HOGBEN at University of Birmingham (82 items)
• Fred HOYLE at Cambridge, St John’s College
• William HUME-ROTHERY at Oxford, Bodleian (11 boxes)
• Kenneth HUTCHISON at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (11 boxes)
• Willis JACKSON at Imperial College
• Bertha JEFFREYS at Cambridge, St John’s College (55 boxes)
• Harold JEFFREYS at Cambridge, St John’s College (69 boxes)
• John Leonard JINKS a Birmingham (68 folders)
• Matthew JONES at Wellcome Library (2 boxes)
• Reginald Victor JONES at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (230 boxes)
• Piotr Leonidovich KAPITZA at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (17 files)
• Bernard Augustus KEEN at UCL (6 files)
• Andrew KELLER at Bristol (2450 items)
• Anthony KELLY at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (125 boxes)
• Nicholas KEMMER at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (6 boxes)
• David KENDALL at Cambridge, Churchill College Archives (7 boxes)
• John Cowdery KENDREW at Oxford Bodleian (2000 items)
• John Stodart KENNEDY at Imperial College (41 boxes)
• Peter KENT at Nottingham (94 boxes)
• Richard KEYNES at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (161 boxes)
• Aaron KLUG at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (300 boxes) – not open yet
• Hans Adolf KREBS at Sheffield (257 boxes)
• Hubert H. LAMB at University of East Anglia (22 metres)
• John David LAWSON at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (7 boxes)
• Edmund Ronald LEACH at Cambridge, King’s College (86 boxes)
• John LENNARD-JONES at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre
• Frederick Alexander LINDEMANN at Oxford, Nuffield College (2574 files)
• James LIGHTHILL at UCL (125 boxes)
• Edward Hubert LINFOOT at Cambridge UL
• Patrick LINSTEAD at Imperial College
• Otto LOEWI at Royal Society
• Christopher LONGUET-HIGGINS at the Royal Society
• Kathleen LONSDALE at UCL (further papers held privately)
• Bernard LOVELL (Jodrell Bank Archive) at Manchester
• Gordon MANLEY at Cambridge UL (27 boxes) and at Durham
• Sidnie Milana MANTON at Natural History Museum
• Roy MARKHAM at John Innes Centre
• Walter (Lord) MARSHALL at Camvridge, Churchill Archives Centre (77 boxes)
• John MAYNARD SMITH at the British Library (700 files, plus floppy disks)
• Colin William Fraser MCCLARE at King’s College
• James Dwyer MCGEE at Imperial College (55 files)
• William Stuart MCKERROW at Oxford, Natural History Museum (500 items)
• Anne MCLAREN at British Library (152 items)
• Peter MEDAWAR at Wellcome Library (47 boxes and online)
• Helen MEGAW at Cambridge, Girton College (33 boxes)
• Lise MEITNER at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (91 boxes)
• Kurt Alfred Georg MENDELSSOHN at Oxford, Bodleian (28 boxes)
• Alec MERRISON at Bristol (38 boxes) (link broken)
• Donald MICHIE at British Library (948 files)
• Edward Arthur MILNE at Oxford Bodleian (11 boxes)
• Cesar MILSTEIN at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (1050 items)
• Joseph Stanley MITCHELL at Cambridge UL (146 boxes)
• Peter Dennis MITCHELL at Cambridge UL (2900 items)
• Philip Burton MOON at University of Birmingham (8 boxes)
• Arthur Ernest MOURANT at Wellcome Library (48 boxes and online)
• Nevill Francis MOTT at Cambridge UL (230 items)
• Dorothy Mary Moyle NEEDHAM at Cambridge, Girton College (153 files)
• Joseph NEEDHAM at Cambridge UL (3400 items)
• Joseph NEEDHAM at Imperial War Museum (150 items)
• Max NEWMAN at Cambridge, St John’s College (5 boxes) (link broken)
• Peter NIBLETT at Manchester MSIM (6 boxes)
• Ronald George Weyford NORRISH at Cambridge UL
• Charles OATLEY at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (1 box)
• Henry Proctor PALMER (at Jodrell Bank Archive), Manchester
• Carl Frederick Abel PANTIN at Cambridge, Trinity College (15 files)
• Denning PEARSON at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (10 boxes)
• Robert PEERS at Nottingham (7 boxes)
• Rudolf Ernst PEIERLS at Oxford, Bodleian (544 files)
• Lionel PENROSE at UCL (96 boxes) and the Wellcome Library online
• Max PERUTZ at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (45 boxes)
• Rudolf Albert PETERS at Oxford, Bodleian (11 boxes)
• David Chilton PHILLIPS at Oxford Bodleian (288 boxes)
• Alfred John PIPPARD at Imperial College (7 boxes)
• Bruno PONTECORVO at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (3 boxes plus film reel)
• Guido PONTECORVO at Glasgow and Wellcome Library online
• George PORTER at Royal Institution (121 boxes)
• John Guy PORTER at Royal Greenwich Observatory archive (3 boxes)
• Rodney Robert PORTER at Oxford, Bodleian
• Cecil Frank POWELL at Bristol
• Joseph PRESTON at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (8 boxes plus a roll)
• Terence PRICE at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (6 boxes)
• John William Sutton PRINGLE at Oxford, Bodleian (90 boxes), supplementary collection here (32 items)
• Dietrich PRINZ at University of Manchester
• Rhys PROBERT at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (12 boxes)
• Robert RACE at Wellcome Library and online
• Richard RADO at Reading (59 boxes)
• John RANDALL at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (19 boxes)
• Barbara RANKIN at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (11 volumes)
• Jack RATCLIFFE at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (32 boxes)
• Roderick REDMAN at Royal Greenwich Observatory archive, held at Cambridge UL (22 boxes)
• James RENWICK at Glasgow and Wellcome Library online
• Rex RICHARDS at Oxford Bodleian (69 boxes)
• Eric Keihtley RIDEAL at Royal Institution (2 boxes)
• Robert ROBINSON at Royal Society (580 items)
• Joseph ROTBLAT at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (292 boxes)
• Leonard ROTHERHAM at Bath (19 boxes)
• Francis John Worsley ROUGHTON at Cambridge UL (250 items)
• Albert Percival ROWE at Imperial War Museum
• Martin RYLE at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (125 boxes)
• James Henderson SANG at Edinburgh (4 files)
• Fred SANGER at Wellcome Library (10 boxes and online)
• Ruth SANGER at Wellcome Library and online
• Basil SCHONLAND at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (7 boxes)
• Peter Markham SCOTT at Cambridge UL (7800 items)
• John SEDDON at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (11 boxes plus two rolls of plans)
• George William SERIES at Reading (12 boxes)
• Robert Beresford Seymour SEWELL at Natural History Museum (9 boxes)
• George Lennox Sharman SHACKLE at Cambridge UL (28 boxes)
• Edward SHIRE at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (10 boxes)
• Oswald John SILBERRAD at Science Museum Library (5300 items)
• Conrad SLATER (at Jodrell Bank Archive), Manchester
• Francis Graham SMITH (at Jodrell Bank Archive), Manchester
• Frank SMITH at Imperial College (6 items)
• Kenneth Manley SMITH at Oxford, Institute of Virology (151 files)
• Frank SMITHIES at Cambridge, St John’s College (34 boxes, 8 albums) (link broken)
• Frederick SODDY at Oxford, Bodleian (258 items)
• Harold SPENCER JONES at Royal Greenwich Observatory archives (3.5 cubic metres)
• Maurice STACEY at Birmingham (149 items)
• Richard STANTON-JONES at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (25 boxes)
• Patrick STEPTOE at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (6 boxes)
• Walter STILES at University of Birmingham (78 files)
• Edmund Clifton STONER at Leeds (28 boxes)
• Christopher STRACHEY at Oxford Bodleian (55 boxes)
• John SULSTON at Wellcome Library (139 boxes, 2 outsize boxes, 19 outsize folders)
• Gordon Brims Black McIvor SUTHERLAND at Cambridge UL (29 boxes)
• John SUTTON at Imperial College (13 boxes)
• Richard Laurence Millington SYNGE at Cambridge, Trinity College Library (1700 items)
• Geoffrey Ingram TAYLOR at Cambridge, Trinity College (14 boxes)
• Nikolaas TINBERGEN at Oxford Bodleian (181 items)
• John Meurig THOMAS at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (92 boxes)
• D’Arcy Wentworth THOMPSON at St Andrews (225 boxes)
• Harold Warris THOMPSON at Royal Society (40 feet)
• Michael Warwick THOMPSON at Birmingham (12 boxes)
• George Paget THOMSON at Cambridge, Trinity College (60 boxes)
• Alexander TODD at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (245 boxes)
• Samuel TOLANSKY at University of London (22 boxes)
• Alan Mathison TURING at Cambridge, King’s College (6 boxes) and at University of Manchester
• Alfred Rene Jean Paul UBBELOHDE at Imperial College (37 files)
• Conrad Hal WADDINGTON at Edinburgh (57 boxes)
• Lawrence Rickard WAGER at Oxford, Natural History Museum (1200 items)
• Barnes WALLIS at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (2 boxes)
• Francis Martin Rouse WALSHE at UCL (5 boxes)
• Ernest WALTON at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (3 boxes)
• Claude Wilson WARDLAW at Manchester (105 items)
• Frederick Edward WARNER at Essex (2500 items)
• David Meredith Seares WATSON at UCL
• James WATSON at Cold Spring Harbor and Wellcome Library online
• Torkel WEIS-FOGH at Cambridge UL
• Karl WEISSENBERG at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (21 boxes)
• Frank WHITTLE at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (96 boxes plus 10 rolls)
• Vincent WIGGLESWORTH at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (50 boxes)
• Maurice WILKES at Cambridge, St. John’s Library (link broken)
• Maurice WILKINS at King’s College London (170 boxes) and Wellcome Library online
• Denys WILKINSON at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (9 boxes)
• Frederic C. WILLIAMS at University of Manchester
• Ian WILMUT at Edinburgh (c. 70 boxes)
• Richard WHIDDINGTON at Leeds (48 files)
• Harold WOOLHOUSE at John Innes Centre
• Gerard WYATT at Wellcome Library (2 boxes and online)
• Charles Maurice YONGE at Natural History Museum (44 boxes)
• Christopher Alwyne Jack YOUNG at Science Museum Library (22 boxes)
• John Zachary YOUNG at UCL (66 boxes catalogued, more info here)
• Solly ZUCKERMAN at University of East Anglia
• Mischa ZVEGINTZOV at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (14 boxes)

Plus a few corporate or group archives:

• Anglo-Australian Telescope project papers at Royal Greenwich Observatory archives
• Association of Teachers of Domestic Science at Warwick Modern Records Centre
• Eugenics Society at Wellcome Library (158 boxes and online)
• Ferranti Collection at Manchester MSIM (700 boxes)
• Ferranti family papers at Manchester MSIM (148 files)
• History of Fusion at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (5 boxes)
• Institute of Animal Genetics at Edinburgh (4 boxes)
• John Innes Centre
• King’s College Biochemistry Department at King’s College Liddell Hart Centre
• Medical Research Council Blood Group Unit at Wellcome Library (65 boxes and online)
• Metropolitan Vickers at Manchester MSIM (32 files)
• National Institute of Agricultural Botany Historical Archive
• Nuffield Foundation Science Teaching Project at King’s College London (591 boxes)
• Oxford Enzyme Group at Oxford Bodleian (21 boxes)
• Roslin Institute and predecessor institutions at Edinburgh (c.900 boxes)
• Royal Agricultural College at RAC
• Royal Society collections
• Schools Council Integrated Science Project at King’s College London (56 boxes)
• Strangeways Research Laboratory at the Wellcome Library (31 boxes)
• Voices of Science, by the Oral History of British Science project at British Library

Politicians and political advisers influential on science and technology policy:

• Tam DALYELL at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (334 boxes)
• George GUISE at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (2 boxes)
• Quintin Hogg, Lord HAILSHAM at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (1210 boxes)
• Edwin PLOWDEN at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (76 boxes)
• Margaret THATCHER at Cambridge, Churchill Archives Centre (2500 boxes)

The list was mostly generated by using a keyword ‘science’ and restricting the search to 1945-2012, and then going through the 24,480 results. That might sound a lot, but I know for a fact that it misses some collections! After seeking suggestions, I have also trawled the Churchill Archives Centre for scientists, and used National Register of Archives.

I intend to keep this list updated.

Thanks to the following for suggestions: John Forrester, Peter Collins, Stephen Boyd Davis, Richard Noakes, Christoph Laucht, Mauro Capocci, John Faithfull, Simon Chaplin, Jean-Baptiste Gouyon, Chris, Dmitry Myelnikov, Dominic Berry, Alex Hall, Nancy Anderson, Clare Button, Joanna Corden, Jacob Hamblin, Tim Powell, and Jenny Shaw.