Son of Sir Alexander Wood of Partick, he was born in Scotland and educated at
Glasgow University and obtained a doctorate in 1907. That very year he went to
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he became a fellow and tutor. At the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the electron, Wood lectured on the work and history of the
Cavendish Laboratory of which he was a well-known and active member. Future Nobelist
George Paget Thomson, who attended Wood's lectures of physics, would comment later: "these were outstanding both in material and exposition, and impressed me greatly." Similarly,
Alan Lindsay Mackay, who was Wood's student, mentioned him as one of his great professors and someone whose lectures were full of demonstrations. In addition, scientist
Charles Alfred Coulson spoke of Alex as one of his three major influences, and
Lawrence Bragg corresponded with him asking for help in his research. As a pupil of
Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) at the University of Glasgow, Wood acquired some of his religious practices as the habit of praying before lecturing. He was a devout Christian and active member of the
Church of Scotland in Cambridge, worshiping regularly at
St Columba's Church in Downing Street and held Bible lessons and spoke about the relation between science and religion. In addition, along with
Kees Boeke and
Herbert Gray, during the
World War I he was a member of the
Fellowship of Reconciliation, a group of religious pacifists.; at the time of conscription he was a
conscientious objector. He was a leading member of the
Peace Pledge Union, serving as Chair, 1940–46, and was also active in the
National Peace Council. After his death, theologian
Charles E. Raven wrote a biography of the physicist entitled
Alex Wood: the man and his message (1952). In the
1929 general election Wood stood as the
Labour Party candidate for the two-member
Cambridge University constituency, coming bottom of the poll with 1,463 votes (9.1%) at the first count. He then stood on three occasions as a Labour candidate for the
Cambridge seat: in the
1931 and
1935 general elections, and at the intervening
by-election in February 1934. The headquarters of Cambridge
Constituency Labour Party in Norfolk Street are named after him as is Alex Wood Road in Arbury and the Alex Wood Care Home in Fortescue Road. == Works ==