Should the cobbler stick to his last? Silvanus Phillips Thompson and the making of a scientific career

British Journal for the History of Science

Volumn 35, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 151-186

  Gay, Hannah ^a,b   Barrett, Anne ^b  

^a SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

^b IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0347699471     PISSN: 00070874     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0007087402004661     Document Type: Article

References (244)

1. Silvanus P. Thompson, 'Presidential Address', Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Congress; Woolwich, 12-15 June 1907, Transactions of the South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies (1907), 1-17. Thompson himself belonged to the Hampstead Scientific Society, of which he was then president, and the Essex Field Club. The latter was a major interest of Thompson's friend and colleague Raphael Meldola, who persuaded him to join.
2. Thompson, op. cit. (1), 1.
3. Thompson, op. cit. (1), 3-6.
4. Quakers had instituted the term 'First Day' in place of 'Sunday' as a reminder that the religious life demands that people be contemplative not on Sundays alone. The pagan names for days of the week were rejected also for Biblical reasons; see Exodus 23: 13.
5. An earlier Quaker scientist illustrating the same point is William Allen, FRS who, aside from his business activities with the Plough Court Pharmacy, was learned in many branches of science, gave lectures, spoke several languages, was a social activist and built an astronomical observatory, initially to observe the moons of Jupiter. His friend and one-time partner, Luke Howard, also had scientific interests beyond manufacturing chemistry and wrote on the meteorology of London. Another Quaker, Sir Edward Fry, FRS, the jurist mentioned in Thompson's lecture, was an amateur botanist who made a major contribution to the study of British mosses. However, Thompson's was by no means an exclusively Quaker pattern. Among his own generation, for example, mathematician and High Anglican (albeit lapsed in later years) William K. Clifford had a similar outlook - despite his conformism and Cambridge training. Second Wrangler in 1867, he was a multilingual polymath who, according to Frederick Pollock, might easily have been first of his year had he chosen to devote himself exclusively to the University curriculum. ... The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and without even such regard to collateral interests as most people would think a matter of common prudence, was the leading character of Clifford's work throughout his life. Lectures and Essays by the Late William Kingdom Clifford, (ed. Leslie Stephen and Frederick Pollock), London, 1886, preface. Clifford also shared Thompson's scepticism towards natural theology, especially towards newfangled versions such as that espoused by James Clerk Maxwell. See Simon Schaffer, 'Metrology, metrication and Victorian values', in Bernard Lightman (ed.), Victorian Science in Context, Chicago, 1997, 438-74.
6. An earlier Quaker scientist illustrating the same point is William Allen, FRS who, aside from his business activities with the Plough Court Pharmacy, was learned in many branches of science, gave lectures, spoke several languages, was a social activist and built an astronomical observatory, initially to observe the moons of Jupiter. His friend and one-time partner, Luke Howard, also had scientific interests beyond manufacturing chemistry and wrote on the meteorology of London. Another Quaker, Sir Edward Fry, FRS, the jurist mentioned in Thompson's lecture, was an amateur botanist who made a major contribution to the study of British mosses. However, Thompson's was by no means an exclusively Quaker pattern. Among his own generation, for example, mathematician and High Anglican (albeit lapsed in later years) William K. Clifford had a similar outlook - despite his conformism and Cambridge training. Second Wrangler in 1867, he was a multilingual polymath who, according to Frederick Pollock, might easily have been first of his year had he chosen to devote himself exclusively to the University curriculum. ... The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and without even such regard to collateral interests as most people would think a matter of common prudence, was the leading character of Clifford's work throughout his life. Lectures and Essays by the Late William Kingdom Clifford, (ed. Leslie Stephen and Frederick Pollock), London, 1886, preface. Clifford also shared Thompson's scepticism towards natural theology, especially towards newfangled versions such as that espoused by James Clerk Maxwell. See Simon Schaffer, 'Metrology, metrication and Victorian values', in Bernard Lightman (ed.), Victorian Science in Context, Chicago, 1997, 438-74.
7. A. C. Lynch, 'Silvanus Thompson: teacher, researcher, historian', IEEE Proceedings (1989) 136, Pt A, 312.
8. For example W. P. Jolly, Sir Oliver Lodge, London, 1974; P. Rowlands and J. P. Wilson, Oliver Lodge and the Invention of Radio, Liverpool, 1994; Bruce J. Hunt, The Maxwellians, Ithaca, NY, 1991; Nani N. Clow, 'The laboratory of Victorian culture: experimental physics, industry and pedagogy in the Liverpool laboratory of Oliver Lodge, 1881-1900', Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1999.
9. For example W. P. Jolly, Sir Oliver Lodge, London, 1974; P. Rowlands and J. P. Wilson, Oliver Lodge and the Invention of Radio, Liverpool, 1994; Bruce J. Hunt, The Maxwellians, Ithaca, NY, 1991; Nani N. Clow, 'The laboratory of Victorian culture: experimental physics, industry and pedagogy in the Liverpool laboratory of Oliver Lodge, 1881-1900', Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1999.
10. For example W. P. Jolly, Sir Oliver Lodge, London, 1974; P. Rowlands and J. P. Wilson, Oliver Lodge and the Invention of Radio, Liverpool, 1994; Bruce J. Hunt, The Maxwellians, Ithaca, NY, 1991; Nani N. Clow, 'The laboratory of Victorian culture: experimental physics, industry and pedagogy in the Liverpool laboratory of Oliver Lodge, 1881-1900', Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1999.
11. For example W. P. Jolly, Sir Oliver Lodge, London, 1974; P. Rowlands and J. P. Wilson, Oliver Lodge and the Invention of Radio, Liverpool, 1994; Bruce J. Hunt, The Maxwellians, Ithaca, NY, 1991; Nani N. Clow, 'The laboratory of Victorian culture: experimental physics, industry and pedagogy in the Liverpool laboratory of Oliver Lodge, 1881-1900', Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, 1999.
12. Elizabeth Isichei, Victorian Quakers, Oxford, 1970, p. xxv.
13. According to Rufus Jones, thirty-one Quakers (some lapsed) were elected FRS in the nineteenth century. Rufus Jones, The Later Periods of Quakerism, 2 vols., London, 1921, ii, 701; Arthur Raistrick, Quakers in Science and Industry, New York, 1968.
14. According to Rufus Jones, thirty-one Quakers (some lapsed) were elected FRS in the nineteenth century. Rufus Jones, The Later Periods of Quakerism, 2 vols., London, 1921, ii, 701; Arthur Raistrick, Quakers in Science and Industry, New York, 1968.
15. Many intellectuals had early been drawn to Quakerism and had founded a good educational system. Raistrick, op. cit. (9), 32-3.
16. Jane Smeal Thompson and Helen G. Thompson, Silvanus Phillips Thompson: His Life and Letters, London, 1920, 320. The authors are Thompson's widow Jane and his daughter Helen.
17. Quaker elders had the role of counselling the (non-professional, self-realized) ministers and were responsible for the proper conduct of meetings. Jones, op. cit. (9), ii, 120; Isichei, op. cit. (8), 94-8.
18. Quaker elders had the role of counselling the (non-professional, self-realized) ministers and were responsible for the proper conduct of meetings. Jones, op. cit. (9), ii, 120; Isichei, op. cit. (8), 94-8.
19. Ernest Rutherford, 'Silvanus P. Thompson memorial lecture', Journal of the Röntgen Society (1918), 56, 1. The Thompson Memorial Lecture is given annually, now under the sponsorship of the British Institute of Radiology. Rutherford's lecture was the first to be given.
20. James Grieg, Silvanus P. Thompson, Teacher, London, 1979. Obituary notices can be found in Proceedings of the Royal Society (1916), A94, pp. xv-xix; and Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (1917), 55, 548-51. Also of interest is Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11). See also J. W. Boag, 'Silvanus Phillips Thompson: some studies in the "prehistory" of X-rays', The British Journal of Radiology (1984), 57, 8-13. Thompson's scientific work will be discussed below only briefly, and in passing.
21. James Grieg, Silvanus P. Thompson, Teacher, London, 1979. Obituary notices can be found in Proceedings of the Royal Society (1916), A94, pp. xv-xix; and Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (1917), 55, 548-51. Also of interest is Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11). See also J. W. Boag, 'Silvanus Phillips Thompson: some studies in the "prehistory" of X-rays', The British Journal of Radiology (1984), 57, 8-13. Thompson's scientific work will be discussed below only briefly, and in passing.
22. James Grieg, Silvanus P. Thompson, Teacher, London, 1979. Obituary notices can be found in Proceedings of the Royal Society (1916), A94, pp. xv-xix; and Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (1917), 55, 548-51. Also of interest is Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11). See also J. W. Boag, 'Silvanus Phillips Thompson: some studies in the "prehistory" of X-rays', The British Journal of Radiology (1984), 57, 8-13. Thompson's scientific work will be discussed below only briefly, and in passing.
23. James Grieg, Silvanus P. Thompson, Teacher, London, 1979. Obituary notices can be found in Proceedings of the Royal Society (1916), A94, pp. xv-xix; and Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (1917), 55, 548-51. Also of interest is Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11). See also J. W. Boag, 'Silvanus Phillips Thompson: some studies in the "prehistory" of X-rays', The British Journal of Radiology (1984), 57, 8-13. Thompson's scientific work will be discussed below only briefly, and in passing.
24. James Grieg, Silvanus P. Thompson, Teacher, London, 1979. Obituary notices can be found in Proceedings of the Royal Society (1916), A94, pp. xv-xix; and Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (1917), 55, 548-51. Also of interest is Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11). See also J. W. Boag, 'Silvanus Phillips Thompson: some studies in the "prehistory" of X-rays', The British Journal of Radiology (1984), 57, 8-13. Thompson's scientific work will be discussed below only briefly, and in passing.
25. For some details on the Old Plough Court Pharmacy see Desmond Chapman-Huston and Ernest C. Cripps, Through a City Archway: The Story of Allen and Hanburys, 1715-1954, London, 1954. For a Quaker biography of Allen see James Sherman, Memoir of William Allen, FRS, Philadelphia, 1851. See also note 5 above.
26. For some details on the Old Plough Court Pharmacy see Desmond Chapman-Huston and Ernest C. Cripps, Through a City Archway: The Story of Allen and Hanburys, 1715-1954, London, 1954. For a Quaker biography of Allen see James Sherman, Memoir of William Allen, FRS, Philadelphia, 1851. See also note 5 above.
27. Much of Thompson's book collection is now in the library of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (subsequently IEE), Savoy Place, London WC2 OBL. See E. D. P. Symons, 'Two electrical book collections: the Ronalds and Thompson libraries', IEE Proceedings (1985), 132, 582-6.
28. After the death of their Tatham grandfather, the collection was inherited by Thompson's brother Jack. After Jack's death, Thompson donated the, by then enlarged, herbarium to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (subsequently IC) Archives; S. P. Thompson papers; letter from Sir David Prain, 19 January 1912, Kew.
29. Raistrick, op. cit. (9), 244. Among the many eminent eighteenth-century Quaker botanists, and possible models for young pupils, were Peter Collinson and John Fothergill. John Dalton and even lapsed Quaker Benjamin Franklin may have been models for those, like Thompson, interested also in chemistry and electricity. George Fox, largely self-educated, clearly thought poorly of university-educated clerics and Quakers, still in the nineteenth century, chose a relatively modern curriculum in their schools.
30. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), Chapter 1.
31. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 8. John Henry Pepper (1821-1900) taught chemistry at the Royal Polytechnic and was famous for this optical illusion. People flocked to see it and the other displays at the Polytechnic.
32. This institute was built adjacent to another Quaker school, Ackworth. It later moved to Leeds.
33. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 10. That he chose to study classics and later switched to the sciences is another indication of his polymathic tendency.
34. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 12.
35. The turn to science may have been prompted by his father having been injured in a railway accident. Thompson, at first, taught his father's science classes on a temporary basis.
36. Isichei, op. cit. (8), 155-6. Quakers shared in the turn towards evangelicism shown also by Anglicans and other protestant denominations during the early to mid-nineteenth century. Music and art were serious interests for Thompson which, before the evangelical turn, would have been rejected by many serious Quakers.
37. Joseph Rowntree (1836-1925) was at this time manager of the family cocoa works. The business did not become highly profitable until the mid-1880s. David Burns Windsor, The Quaker Enterprise: Friends in Business, London, 1980, Chapter 8.
38. Thompson attended the annual Red Lions dinners at the British Association meetings. He was not a member of the London club. For scientists' clubs and associations see Hannah Gay and John W. Gay, 'Brothers in science: science and fraternal culture in nineteenth-century Britain', History of Science (1997), 35, 425-53. Odd Volumes will be discussed below.
39. S. P. Thompson, A History of the Order of the Good Templars, London, 1873. The Independent Order of the Good Templars was a Masonic offshoot devoted to temperance.
40. A. K. Brown, quoted in G. (Sir George) Newman, 'Professor Silvanus Thompson and his message', Friends Quarterly Examiner (1916), July issue, 381.
41. IEE archives; Thompson papers; see letters written from 1873 to 1875 from Thomas H. Waller. Quotation from letter, 7 April 1875, Edgbaston. Becker was a well-known London instrument-maker and J. J. Griffin a well-known supplier of scientific apparatus and chemicals. The letters are addressed 'Dear Phillips', as Thompson was known to his old friends and family. This was to distinguish him from his father, who was also called Silvanus.
42. IEE archives, Thompson papers, letter from Thomas Waller, 3 September 1874, Edgbaston. For the 'sneering' comments on Gassendi see John Tyndall, Address Delivered before The British Association Assembled at Belfast, London, 1874, 25.
43. The quotation is from Grieg, op. cit. (14), 6. Sketching and painting in the Alps was a not uncommon activity among older scientists of the period; for example, Andrew Ramsay, T. H. Huxley and John Tyndall all did the same. One of Thompson's painter companions in Britain was Walter Palmer, MP for Reading, and a member of the Quaker biscuit manufacturing family (Huntley and Palmer); see Newman, op. cit. (29), 399. Thompson also sketched people during scientific meetings; examples are to be found in IEE archives.
44. The quotation is from Grieg, op. cit. (14), 6. Sketching and painting in the Alps was a not uncommon activity among older scientists of the period; for example, Andrew Ramsay, T. H. Huxley and John Tyndall all did the same. One of Thompson's painter companions in Britain was Walter Palmer, MP for Reading, and a member of the Quaker biscuit manufacturing family (Huntley and Palmer); see Newman, op. cit. (29), 399. Thompson also sketched people during scientific meetings; examples are to be found in IEE archives.
45. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 19-20.
46. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 24. The glass-blowing skills needed for making good radiometers were rare at that time. Crookes's assistant, Charles Gimingham, an excellent glass-blower, made many good radiometers. See Hannah Gay, 'Invisible resource: William Crookes and his circle of support, 1871-81', BJHS (1996), 29, 311-36.
47. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 24. The glass-blowing skills needed for making good radiometers were rare at that time. Crookes's assistant, Charles Gimingham, an excellent glass-blower, made many good radiometers. See Hannah Gay, 'Invisible resource: William Crookes and his circle of support, 1871-81', BJHS (1996), 29, 311-36.
48. For reports on lecturers see Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 17-23. For quotation see Grieg, op. cit. (14), 7. H. G. Wells also made derogatory remarks about Frederick Guthries's teaching, but Guthrie was a great innovator and helpful to many students, including Thompson. See William H. Brock, 'The chemical origins of practical physics', Bulletin of the History of Chemistry (1998), 21, 1-11. Later, in 1886, Thompson witnessed Tyndall lecturing when he was much in decline, and the contrast with the earlier performances preyed on his mind. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 157.
49. For reports on lecturers see Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 17-23. For quotation see Grieg, op. cit. (14), 7. H. G. Wells also made derogatory remarks about Frederick Guthries's teaching, but Guthrie was a great innovator and helpful to many students, including Thompson. See William H. Brock, 'The chemical origins of practical physics', Bulletin of the History of Chemistry (1998), 21, 1-11. Later, in 1886, Thompson witnessed Tyndall lecturing when he was much in decline, and the contrast with the earlier performances preyed on his mind. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 157.
50. For reports on lecturers see Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 17-23. For quotation see Grieg, op. cit. (14), 7. H. G. Wells also made derogatory remarks about Frederick Guthries's teaching, but Guthrie was a great innovator and helpful to many students, including Thompson. See William H. Brock, 'The chemical origins of practical physics', Bulletin of the History of Chemistry (1998), 21, 1-11. Later, in 1886, Thompson witnessed Tyndall lecturing when he was much in decline, and the contrast with the earlier performances preyed on his mind. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 157.
51. For reports on lecturers see Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 17-23. For quotation see Grieg, op. cit. (14), 7. H. G. Wells also made derogatory remarks about Frederick Guthries's teaching, but Guthrie was a great innovator and helpful to many students, including Thompson. See William H. Brock, 'The chemical origins of practical physics', Bulletin of the History of Chemistry (1998), 21, 1-11. Later, in 1886, Thompson witnessed Tyndall lecturing when he was much in decline, and the contrast with the earlier performances preyed on his mind. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 157.
52. Thompson was much sought after as a lecturer. Among the many invited lectures he gave were two sets of Cantor Lectures on electrical engineering topics to the Society of Arts (1890 and 1895), and the Boyle Lecture at Oxford in 1901 on 'Magnetism in growth'.
53. Oliver Lodge later remarked that many legends existed about McLeod's manipulative skills. Lodge will have learned something of these from his brother Alfred, a professor of mathematics, and colleague of McLeod's, at the Royal Indian Engineering College. Sir Oliver Lodge, Past Years: An Autobiography, London, 1931, 144-50.
54. These comments are made on the basis of a close reading of McLeod's diary for the years 1860 to 1900. The diary supports the claim that many of McLeod's contemporaries began at least some of their research activity in much the same way, by copying lecture demonstrations and comparing their results with others. IC archives, Herbert McLeod Diary.
55. Earlier, Lodge had attended lectures at University College London, given by the Quaker botanist Daniel Oliver, who worked at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. Lodge also took classes at the Royal School of Mines. See Lodge, op. cit. (37), 79-80.
56. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 20; Grieg, op. cit. (14), 14.
57. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 20; Grieg, op. cit. (14), 14.
58. Quoted in Newman, op. cit. (29), 382. As will be shown, Thompson was drawn towards Anglicanism at this time.
59. This unity was central to the pedagogical philosophy of the Ecole centrale des arts et manufactures in Paris. The Parisian ideas were later incorporated in the teaching at the City and Guilds of London Institute's Finsbury College, even before Thompson became principal at the College. See Hannah Gay, 'Association and practice: the City and Guilds Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education', Annals of Science (2000), 57, 135-69. For a general account of technical education in the period see Michael Argles, South Kensington to bobbins: An Account of English Scientific and Technical Education since 1851, London, 1964.
60. This unity was central to the pedagogical philosophy of the Ecole centrale des arts et manufactures in Paris. The Parisian ideas were later incorporated in the teaching at the City and Guilds of London Institute's Finsbury College, even before Thompson became principal at the College. See Hannah Gay, 'Association and practice: the City and Guilds Institute for the Advancement of Technical Education', Annals of Science (2000), 57, 135-69. For a general account of technical education in the period see Michael Argles, South Kensington to bobbins: An Account of English Scientific and Technical Education since 1851, London, 1964.
61. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 9.
62. Frankland's first lecture assistant at the Royal School of Mines, Herbert McLeod, also had to learn some practical physics in a rush when he took on the position of professor of experimental science at the new Royal Indian Engineering College, in 1872. IC Archives; Herbert McLeod Diary for the years 1871-2. Others, for example George Carey Foster and Frederick Guthrie, had earlier done the same; see Brock, op. cit. (35).
63. S. P. Thompson (with Frederick Guthrie), 'On some phenomena of induced electric sparks', Philosophical Magazine (1876), 2, 191-8.
64. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 28-31.
65. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 29-31. Because of the College's non-conformist and Liberal associations, it received little Tory money. It had a local rival, the Merchant Venturer's College and, without any major local benefactor, had financial problems. See Don Carleton, A University for Bristol, Bristol, 1984, 4-5.
66. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 29-31. Because of the College's non-conformist and Liberal associations, it received little Tory money. It had a local rival, the Merchant Venturer's College and, without any major local benefactor, had financial problems. See Don Carleton, A University for Bristol, Bristol, 1984, 4-5.
67. The Rev. John Percival was one of the founders of the University College in Bristol. Earlier he had helped found the Association for the Promotion of Higher Education for Women.
68. Jack Tatham Thompson later became a medical doctor (eye specialist) in Cardiff.
69. For example S. P. Thompson, Apprenticeship Schools in France, London, 1879. He was still writing on this topic much later; for example, 'Reform in the organization of technical education', Journal of the Society of Arts (1897), 45, 870-4.
70. For example S. P. Thompson, Apprenticeship Schools in France, London, 1879. He was still writing on this topic much later; for example, 'Reform in the organization of technical education', Journal of the Society of Arts (1897), 45, 870-4.
71. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 13.
72. S. P. Thompson, 'Apprenticeship scientific and unscientific', Journal of the Society of Arts (1879), 28, 34-42.
73. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 53. John Perry, 'The teaching of technical physics', Journal of the Society of Arts (1880), 28, 167-76.
74. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 53. John Perry, 'The teaching of technical physics', Journal of the Society of Arts (1880), 28, 167-76.
75. IC archives; Thompson papers, letter from (Sir) William Fletcher Barrett, 10 November 1879, Dublin. Barrett had been Tyndall's assistant at the Royal Institution before moving to Dublin. John Donnelly was Secretary, Government Department of Science and Art, in South Kensington. Barrett's comments should be read in the context of the debates surrounding technical education at this time. Much discussion centred on the guilds which had a traditional responsibility in trades training, and were seen as sufficiently wealthy to fund new colleges. See Hannah Gay, 'East End West End: science education, culture and class in mid-Victorian London', Canadian Journal of History (1997), 32, 153-83. See also Gay, op. cit. (42).
76. IC archives; Thompson papers, letter from (Sir) William Fletcher Barrett, 10 November 1879, Dublin. Barrett had been Tyndall's assistant at the Royal Institution before moving to Dublin. John Donnelly was Secretary, Government Department of Science and Art, in South Kensington. Barrett's comments should be read in the context of the debates surrounding technical education at this time. Much discussion centred on the guilds which had a traditional responsibility in trades training, and were seen as sufficiently wealthy to fund new colleges. See Hannah Gay, 'East End West End: science education, culture and class in mid-Victorian London', Canadian Journal of History (1997), 32, 153-83. See also Gay, op. cit. (42).
77. IC Archives; Thompson papers; letter from Alexander Graham Bell, 27 November 1879, Washington, DC. Thompson's work on binaural audition also attracted the interest of Ernst Mach. See Mach to Thompson, 1 March 1879, Prague.
78. IC Archives; Thompson papers, letter from John Tyndall, 20 December 1879, Royal Institution.
79. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 44. Later he also attempted to enter the electric traction business, also unsuccessfully; Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 103.
80. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 44. Later he also attempted to enter the electric traction business, also unsuccessfully; Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 103.
81. IC Archives, Thompson papers; letter from William Crookes, 5 September 1878, office of the Quarterly Journal of Science, Ludgate Hill.
82. Ramsay quoted in Carleton, op. cit. (47), 88-9.
83. University College London (subsequently UCL), Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, letters from Lodge to Thompson written in 1877. Good tourmaline crystals were expensive and the two shared the costs of the experiments; see letter from Lodge to Thompson, 13 November 1877. O. Lodge and S. P. Thompson, 'On unilateral conductivity in tourmaline crystals', Philosophical Magazine (1879), 8, 18-25.
84. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Lodge to Thompson, 12 June 1881. Cambridge educated, Arthur Schuster was already teaching at Owen's College (the forerunner of the University of Manchester) and was the favoured candidate. Richard Glazebrook was Lord Rayleigh's demonstrator at the University of Cambridge, Assistant Director of the Cavendish Laboratory and lecturer in mathematics. J. J. Thomson was also a candidate for the Liverpool job. This illustrates the competition for the few good academic jobs then available. Later, Glazebrook was briefly Principal of University College, Liverpool, before leaving to become the first Director of the National Physical Laboratory at Bushey House in 1899.
85. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, letter from Lodge to Thompson, 28 June 1881.
86. See Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 124-7.
87. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 40. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 50. At the Southampton BA meeting in 1882, Thompson read a paper on the origin of hail having something to do with meteorites, an idea that William Thomson thought was a joke. IC archives, McLeod diary, 28 August 1882.
88. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 40. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 50. At the Southampton BA meeting in 1882, Thompson read a paper on the origin of hail having something to do with meteorites, an idea that William Thomson thought was a joke. IC archives, McLeod diary, 28 August 1882.
89. IEE Archives, Thompson papers, letter from John Gorham, February (no date), 1889, Tonbridge.
90. Guildhall Library, City and Guilds of London Institute (subsequently CGLI) papers, Ms 21868/22: Letter of application, 7 February 1885. Magnus, who had been acting principal, was stepping down from that part of his job but staying as Organizing Director of the CGLI. Thompson had earlier applied, unsuccessfully, for the physics position at the Central Institution. This position had been offered to Ayrton, who first turned it down. It was then offered to Oliver Lodge and, after he turned it down, better terms were offered to Ayrton, who then accepted.
91. Ramsay also applied for the professorship in chemistry, vacated by Henry Armstrong who, with Ayrton, was moving to the college in South Kensington.
92. IC archives, Thompson papers, letter from (Sir) William Barren, 16 July 1885, Dublin. It is interesting to note that there appears to have been a move to keep chemist William Ramsay out of the principalship at Finsbury. Philip Magnus, the organizing director and retiring principal, favoured Thompson - as did two other scientists with strong City connections, Frederick Abel and George Matthey. Ramsay had the support of Henry Armstrong and Edward Cookworthy Robins, an architect and Prime-Warden of the Dyers Company. IC archives, Henry Armstrong papers, letter 414 from E. C. Robins, 23 January 1885. Guildhall Library, CGLI papers, Ms 21821, volume 2, entries for February and March 1885.
93. IC archives, Thompson papers, letter from (Sir) William Barren, 16 July 1885, Dublin. It is interesting to note that there appears to have been a move to keep chemist William Ramsay out of the principalship at Finsbury. Philip Magnus, the organizing director and retiring principal, favoured Thompson - as did two other scientists with strong City connections, Frederick Abel and George Matthey. Ramsay had the support of Henry Armstrong and Edward Cookworthy Robins, an architect and Prime-Warden of the Dyers Company. IC archives, Henry Armstrong papers, letter 414 from E. C. Robins, 23 January 1885. Guildhall Library, CGLI papers, Ms 21821, volume 2, entries for February and March 1885.
94. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, Thompson to Lodge, 28 February (no year, but presumably 1884), Bristol.
95. The London Borough of Newham Museum Services (subsequently NMS), Raphael Meldola papers, uncatalogued, letter from Silvanus Thompson, 1 March 1885, Clifton. Rokeby Price was a major donor to the City and Guilds of London Institute and a member of the Ironmongers Company. The Meldola papers have recently been moved to the Imperial College archives.
96. Letters from the Beck family in IEE Archives include a gossipy one (22 January 1888) from William Beck, very critical of Philip Magnus.
97. IC Archives, see letters from David Hughes, 1884, encouraging Thompson to send papers which he will submit to the Royal Society.
98. Henry A. Armstrong, 'The beginnings of Finsbury and the Central', The Central (1934), 31, 1-14; E. G. Walker, 'Finsbury Technical College', The Central (1934), 30, 35-48. See also W. H. Brock's introduction to his edited collection of Armstrong's essays on education, H. E. Armstrong and the Teaching of Science, 1890-1930, Cambridge, 1973; W. H. Brock, '"Observe, experiment and conclude": Finsbury College's new course of experimental philosophy in 1879-80', and 'Science for all', in Science For All: Studies in the History of Victorian Science and Education (ed. W. H. Brock), Aldershot, 1996; W. H. Brock, 'Building England's first technical college: the laboratories of Finsbury Technical College (1878-1926)', in The Development of the Laboratory: Essays on the Place of Experiment in Industrial Civilization (ed. F. A. J. L. James), Basingstoke, 1989, 155-70. See also Gay, op. cit. (42).
99. Henry A. Armstrong, 'The beginnings of Finsbury and the Central', The Central (1934), 31, 1-14; E. G. Walker, 'Finsbury Technical College', The Central (1934), 30, 35-48. See also W. H. Brock's introduction to his edited collection of Armstrong's essays on education, H. E. Armstrong and the Teaching of Science, 1890-1930, Cambridge, 1973; W. H. Brock, '"Observe, experiment and conclude": Finsbury College's new course of experimental philosophy in 1879-80', and 'Science for all', in Science For All: Studies in the History of Victorian Science and Education (ed. W. H. Brock), Aldershot, 1996; W. H. Brock, 'Building England's first technical college: the laboratories of Finsbury Technical College (1878-1926)', in The Development of the Laboratory: Essays on the Place of Experiment in Industrial Civilization (ed. F. A. J. L. James), Basingstoke, 1989, 155-70. See also Gay, op. cit. (42).
100. Henry A. Armstrong, 'The beginnings of Finsbury and the Central', The Central (1934), 31, 1-14; E. G. Walker, 'Finsbury Technical College', The Central (1934), 30, 35-48. See also W. H. Brock's introduction to his edited collection of Armstrong's essays on education, H. E. Armstrong and the Teaching of Science, 1890-1930, Cambridge, 1973; W. H. Brock, '"Observe, experiment and conclude": Finsbury College's new course of experimental philosophy in 1879-80', and 'Science for all', in Science For All: Studies in the History of Victorian Science and Education (ed. W. H. Brock), Aldershot, 1996; W. H. Brock, 'Building England's first technical college: the laboratories of Finsbury Technical College (1878-1926)', in The Development of the Laboratory: Essays on the Place of Experiment in Industrial Civilization (ed. F. A. J. L. James), Basingstoke, 1989, 155-70. See also Gay, op. cit. (42).
101. Henry A. Armstrong, 'The beginnings of Finsbury and the Central', The Central (1934), 31, 1-14; E. G. Walker, 'Finsbury Technical College', The Central (1934), 30, 35-48. See also W. H. Brock's introduction to his edited collection of Armstrong's essays on education, H. E. Armstrong and the Teaching of Science, 1890-1930, Cambridge, 1973; W. H. Brock, '"Observe, experiment and conclude": Finsbury College's new course of experimental philosophy in 1879-80', and 'Science for all', in Science For All: Studies in the History of Victorian Science and Education (ed. W. H. Brock), Aldershot, 1996; W. H. Brock, 'Building England's first technical college: the laboratories of Finsbury Technical College (1878-1926)', in The Development of the Laboratory: Essays on the Place of Experiment in Industrial Civilization (ed. F. A. J. L. James), Basingstoke, 1989, 155-70. See also Gay, op. cit. (42).
102. Henry A. Armstrong, 'The beginnings of Finsbury and the Central', The Central (1934), 31, 1-14; E. G. Walker, 'Finsbury Technical College', The Central (1934), 30, 35-48. See also W. H. Brock's introduction to his edited collection of Armstrong's essays on education, H. E. Armstrong and the Teaching of Science, 1890-1930, Cambridge, 1973; W. H. Brock, '"Observe, experiment and conclude": Finsbury College's new course of experimental philosophy in 1879-80', and 'Science for all', in Science For All: Studies in the History of Victorian Science and Education (ed. W. H. Brock), Aldershot, 1996; W. H. Brock, 'Building England's first technical college: the laboratories of Finsbury Technical College (1878-1926)', in The Development of the Laboratory: Essays on the Place of Experiment in Industrial Civilization (ed. F. A. J. L. James), Basingstoke, 1989, 155-70. See also Gay, op. cit. (42).
103. Henry A. Armstrong, 'The beginnings of Finsbury and the Central', The Central (1934), 31, 1-14; E. G. Walker, 'Finsbury Technical College', The Central (1934), 30, 35-48. See also W. H. Brock's introduction to his edited collection of Armstrong's essays on education, H. E. Armstrong and the Teaching of Science, 1890-1930, Cambridge, 1973; W. H. Brock, '"Observe, experiment and conclude": Finsbury College's new course of experimental philosophy in 1879-80', and 'Science for all', in Science For All: Studies in the History of Victorian Science and Education (ed. W. H. Brock), Aldershot, 1996; W. H. Brock, 'Building England's first technical college: the laboratories of Finsbury Technical College (1878-1926)', in The Development of the Laboratory: Essays on the Place of Experiment in Industrial Civilization (ed. F. A. J. L. James), Basingstoke, 1989, 155-70. See also Gay, op. cit. (42).
104. Quoted in Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 25.
105. IC archives, Thompson papers, 'An inaugural address delivered by Silvanus P. Thompson, D.Sc., F.R.S., to first year students of the City and Guilds of London Technical College, Finsbury', 1-30. Italics original. This address was printed privately and posthumously; it is preceded by an 'Introductory Memoir'.
106. Many of the evening students were apprentices, but most day-students had come directly from school. A good set of notes taken of Thompson's lectures by his student, and later assistant, Percival Charles Austwick (1873-1968) are in the IC Archives.
107. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 35-6. By then Thompson had made a number of contributions to optics including the pioneering of ways to measure the optical constants for lenses of short focal length. The eponymous Glan-Thompson prism was an improvement on the Nicol polarizing prism. In 1900 he visited the Zeiss Company in Jena and, enthused by what he saw there, determined to improve working methods in the British optical industry. Thompson was an examiner for the Spectacle Makers Guild. In earlier times religious tests existed for entering guilds and Quakers were not admitted.
108. For criticism of the polytechnics and praise for Finsbury see Guildhall Library, CGLI papers, Ms 21, 869, letter from Meldola to Soper, 21 June 1912. The polytechnics largely trained people for a variety of external examinations such as those set by the University of London and by a number of professional bodies.
109. Lynch, op. cit. (6), 307.
110. Thompson, op. cit. (75).
111. For example, Clifford Copeland Paterson, who worked at the National Physical Laboratory and founded the research laboratory of the General Electric Company at Wembley; Arthur P. M. Fleming, who became chief engineer of the transformer department of the Metropolitan Vickers Company. Both became presidents of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, in 1930 and 1938 respectively. See Rollo Appleyard, The History of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 1871-1931, London, 1939, 298 and 300.
112. See, for example, W. H. Armytage, A Social History of Engineering, London, 1961; Graeme Gooday, 'Teaching telegraphy and electrotechnics in the physics laboratory', History of Technology (1991), 1, 73-111 (in this paper Gooday discusses some of Ayrton's problems with non-academic electrical engineers); Sungook Hong, 'Forging scientific electrical engineering: John Ambrose Fleming and the Ferranti effect', Isis (1995), 86, 30-51.
113. See, for example, W. H. Armytage, A Social History of Engineering, London, 1961; Graeme Gooday, 'Teaching telegraphy and electrotechnics in the physics laboratory', History of Technology (1991), 1, 73-111 (in this paper Gooday discusses some of Ayrton's problems with non-academic electrical engineers); Sungook Hong, 'Forging scientific electrical engineering: John Ambrose Fleming and the Ferranti effect', Isis (1995), 86, 30-51.
114. See, for example, W. H. Armytage, A Social History of Engineering, London, 1961; Graeme Gooday, 'Teaching telegraphy and electrotechnics in the physics laboratory', History of Technology (1991), 1, 73-111 (in this paper Gooday discusses some of Ayrton's problems with non-academic electrical engineers); Sungook Hong, 'Forging scientific electrical engineering: John Ambrose Fleming and the Ferranti effect', Isis (1995), 86, 30-51.
115. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104 1, Thompson to Lodge, 15 December 1895, Hampstead. This letter was in reply to one from Lodge complaining that Henry Hele-Shaw had claimed electrical engineering for his department at Liverpool. Hele-Shaw had been one of Thompson's colleagues at Bristol before becoming professor of engineering at Liverpool. Nani Clow, in her doctoral dissertation, op. cit. (7), discusses Oliver Lodge's situation in Liverpool. Lodge at first taught, what others saw as, electrical engineering in the physics department. He recognized that a department of electrical engineering was needed, despite the wishes of the mechanical engineers who believed that this new field, with its heavy machinery, was rightly theirs. To keep the peace Lodge called his new institute 'Electrotechnics'. Anne Banks makes several comparative comments on the pedagogical approaches of Thompson and Lodge in her thesis. See Anne Banks, 'Methods of lecturing technology in the late 19th/early 20th centuries', M.Phil, dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1992.
116. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104 1, Thompson to Lodge, 15 December 1895, Hampstead. This letter was in reply to one from Lodge complaining that Henry Hele-Shaw had claimed electrical engineering for his department at Liverpool. Hele-Shaw had been one of Thompson's colleagues at Bristol before becoming professor of engineering at Liverpool. Nani Clow, in her doctoral dissertation, op. cit. (7), discusses Oliver Lodge's situation in Liverpool. Lodge at first taught, what others saw as, electrical engineering in the physics department. He recognized that a department of electrical engineering was needed, despite the wishes of the mechanical engineers who believed that this new field, with its heavy machinery, was rightly theirs. To keep the peace Lodge called his new institute 'Electrotechnics'. Anne Banks makes several comparative comments on the pedagogical approaches of Thompson and Lodge in her thesis. See Anne Banks, 'Methods of lecturing technology in the late 19th/early 20th centuries', M.Phil, dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1992.
117. Despite little guilds support for research, Meldola pushed his students to join learned and professional societies and at least three of his students later held major chairs in chemistry: W. H. Pope at Cambridge, Martin Forster at the Royal College of Science and Arthur Green at the Yorkshire College of Science
118. Walker, op. cit. (73), 41.
119. Anonymous student quoted in Newman, op. cit. (29), 383.
120. Thompson, op. cit. (75); quotations in 'Introductory Memoir'. Some of these exhortations are suggestive of Thomas Carlyle.
121. Thompson, op. cit. (75); quotations in 'Introductory Memoir'. Some of these exhortations are suggestive of Thomas Carlyle.
122. Thompson, op. cit. (75), 9.
123. George Carey Foster was his sponsor at the Royal Society. With Lodge's help he only began collecting signatures in 1889 when the careful Thompson finally felt confident enough to let his name go forward UCL Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Thompson to Lodge, 10 February 1889. Thompson later served on the Royal Society Council.
124. A very well-received series of Christmas lectures was his Light Visible and Invisible, London 1897.
125. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 34.
126. For the April letter see Grieg, op. cit. (14), 34. For earlier letter, IC archives, Stokes to Thompson, 29 February 1896.
127. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 186 and 196; Rutherford, op. cit. (13), 1. Thompson's assistant, Miles Walker, noted that using uranium as an 'anti-cathode' increased the efficiency of X-ray tubes. IEE, Thompson papers, letter from Walker, 11 September 1896.
128. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 186 and 196; Rutherford, op. cit. (13), 1. Thompson's assistant, Miles Walker, noted that using uranium as an 'anti-cathode' increased the efficiency of X-ray tubes. IEE, Thompson papers, letter from Walker, 11 September 1896.
129. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 186 and 196; Rutherford, op. cit. (13), 1. Thompson's assistant, Miles Walker, noted that using uranium as an 'anti-cathode' increased the efficiency of X-ray tubes. IEE, Thompson papers, letter from Walker, 11 September 1896.
130. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 40.
131. For Quaker ambivalence see Isichei, op. cit. (8), 151.
132. Gay, op. cit. (42).
133. Guildhall Library, CGLI papers, Ms 21868/22, S. P. Thompson correspondence, letter to John Watney, 18 February 1889. This file also contains details on Thompson's consulting work which was largely in the electrical lighting business.
134. The promotion was in part due to recognition of Thompson having gained a D.Sc. from the University of London in 1878.
135. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 17. See also Guildhall Library (CGLI) papers, Ms 21868/22, letter of application, 20 February 1880.
136. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 17. See also Guildhall Library (CGLI) papers, Ms 21868/22, letter of application, 20 February 1880.
137. This book went through five English editions and forty reprints, and was translated into many languages; the final edition was published in 1915. Thompson kept files of clippings (now at the IEE) and was perhaps inspired by one that he saved relating to John Wesley's The Desideratum: Or Electricity Made Plain and Useful, by a Lover of Mankind and Common Sense.
138. The committee was to recommend amendments to the Electric Lighting Act of 1882. The Act included a clause that allowed municipalities to take over from electricity providers after twenty-one years, which prevented serious investment in the electricity generation and transmission industry. Thompson was responsible for several amendments, but only in 1888 was the take-over period doubled to forty-two years. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 19.
139. Angela Darwin, personal communication. Angela Darwin is transcribing these letters for future publication.
140. IC archives, Thompson papers, letter from G. Carey Foster, 19 February 1882, Sabden, Lancashire. Emphasis original.
141. IC archives, Thompson papers, letter from Edward Frankland, 15 December 1881, South Kensington.
142. IC archives, Thompson papers, letter from Sir Joseph Swan, 8 December 1881, Gateshead.
143. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Lodge to Thompson, 6 July 1882.
144. S. P. Thompson, Elementary Lessons in Electricity and Magnetism, London, 1892 (first edition 1881), 23. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 86.
145. S. P. Thompson, Elementary Lessons in Electricity and Magnetism, London, 1892 (first edition 1881), 23. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 86.
146. Finite change in flux is divided by a finite change in time. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 365. Thompson also calculated the potential due to a magnetic shell geometrically. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 274.
147. Finite change in flux is divided by a finite change in time. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 365. Thompson also calculated the potential due to a magnetic shell geometrically. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 274.
148. Thompson did write a draft work on heat and thermodynamics. See IC archives, S. P. Thompson papers, letter from J. H. Gladstone, 7 December 1878.
149. This book was significantly enlarged in its seventh edition, published in two volumes in 1905. Two other popular textbooks by Thompson were Polyphase Electric Currents and Alternate-Current Motors, London, 1895, and his pseudonymous (by FRS) Calculus Made Easy, London, 1911.
150. This book was significantly enlarged in its seventh edition, published in two volumes in 1905. Two other popular textbooks by Thompson were Polyphase Electric Currents and Alternate-Current Motors, London, 1895, and his pseudonymous (by FRS) Calculus Made Easy, London, 1911.
151. When Thompson arrived at Finsbury he complained about the lack of equipment there too. The only alternating-current dynamo at the college was an old Siemens machine that had earlier sat at the bottom of Sydney harbour in the capsized Astral. Grieg, op. cit. (14), 26. Thompson became a supporter of alternating-current supply systems.
152. E. and F. N. Spon, review of S. P. Thompson's Dynamo-Electric Machinery, Nature (1884), 30 October, 630-1.
153. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Thompson to Lodge, 3 December 1884. According to Graeme Gooday (personal communication), there was a great proliferation of different electrical notations at this time and that idiosyncratically individual notation was a way of staking ownership of the new. In this case Ayrton was likely trying to claim sole ownership for himself and John Perry. But the dispute remained private, making it seem unlikely that there was any major theft of intellectual property.
154. S. P. Thompson, Life of Phillip Reiss: Inventor of the Telephone, London, 1883.
155. IC archives, Thompson papers, letter from William F. Channing, 29 July 1883. Later Thomson had an offer for the American rights to the Reiss book from Henry Metcalfe, who wrote that he could secure a large American circulation. See letter from Henry Metcalfe, 8 September 1889, Pawtucket, RI.
156. IC archives, Thompson papers, letter from William F. Channing, 29 July 1883. Later Thomson had an offer for the American rights to the Reiss book from Henry Metcalfe, who wrote that he could secure a large American circulation. See letter from Henry Metcalfe, 8 September 1889, Pawtucket, RI.
157. IC archives, Thompson papers, see letters from Carl Reiss, 20 December 1883, Frankfurt and 23 July and 28 September 1885, Friedrichsdorf. The second of these indicates that a monument to Reiss was under construction at Gelnhausen and the third describes its unveiling at which a letter from Thompson was read out.
158. IC Archives, Thompson papers, see letters from James Wimshurst (who was a clerk at the Board of Trade), 1882-3.
159. S. P. Thompson, Michael Faraday: His Life and Work, London, 1896. This book was one in a series of scientific biographies edited by Henry Roscoe. It was the fourth biography of Faraday to be written. The earlier ones were by John Tyndall, Henry Bence-Jones and John H. Gladstone.
160. Hughes quoted in Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 168.
161. Crookes quoted in Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 170.
162. IC Archives, Thompson papers, letter from William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), 8 May 1906, Eaton Place, SW. The idea for a biography was originally Thompson's; it was he who had approached Kelvin. In 1899, when Thompson was president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, he invited Kelvin to become its first honorary member.
163. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 278-9.
164. IC archives, Thompson papers, letter from Thompson to James Douglas Hamilton Dickson, 10 July 1909, Hampstead. Dickson had been a student of Thomson's at Glasgow and was also a Fellow of Peterhouse, Kelvin's Cambridge college. He later became an assistant to James Dewar at the Royal Institution. The recorder was the siphon recorder which recorded telegraph signals on moving paper. Lallah Rookh was Kelvin's yacht. Whites was an optical instrument-maker's shop. The owner was one of Kelvin's scientific collaborators. The jurist Sir Edward Fry (1827-1918), father of prison reformer and principal of Somerville College Margery Fry, and of artist Roger Fry, had been a close friend of Kelvin. See also note 5 above.
165. IC Archives, Thompson papers, letter from Thompson to Dickson, 24 June 1909.
166. While one cannot expect Thompson to have written like a modern cultural historian, he could have been more perceptive. Sadi Carnot, in the opening pages of his Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres a développer cette puissance, Paris, 1824, noted that while the English had invented the steam engine, and had made great strides in developing it further, no real progress would be made until a theoretical understanding of the motive power of heat was arrived at. William Thomson understood this. The worlds of practice and theory that Thomson inhabited, and the world of Scottish presbyterianism with which they intersected, are well described in Crosbie Smith, The Science of Energy: A Cultural History of Energy Physics in Victorian Britain, Chicago, 1998.
167. While one cannot expect Thompson to have written like a modern cultural historian, he could have been more perceptive. Sadi Carnot, in the opening pages of his Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu et sur les machines propres a développer cette puissance, Paris, 1824, noted that while the English had invented the steam engine, and had made great strides in developing it further, no real progress would be made until a theoretical understanding of the motive power of heat was arrived at. William Thomson understood this. The worlds of practice and theory that Thomson inhabited, and the world of Scottish presbyterianism with which they intersected, are well described in Crosbie Smith, The Science of Energy: A Cultural History of Energy Physics in Victorian Britain, Chicago, 1998.
168. A volume of congratulatory letters is in the IC archives. Thompson gave away about sixty complimentary copies of the biography.
169. Silvanus P. Thompson, The Life of William Thomson: Baron Kelvin of Largs, 2 vols., London, 1910, i, 11.
170. Thompson, op. cit. (127), 95.
171. Thomson did study briefly with Victor Regnault and some other Parisian scientists. James Thomson wanted his son to have the skills needed for the chair of natural philosophy in Glasgow which he believed would soon fall vacant because of the ill health of the incumbent. From Regnault, Thomson will have learned much about precision measurement. Kelvin's most recent biographers also make much of the role of James Thomson in the moulding of his son into a natural philosopher with some practical skills. See Crosbie Smith and M. Norton Wise,
172. Hunt, op. cit. (7).
173. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 153. Lodge and Thompson both first met Fitzgerald at the 1878 Dublin BA meeting. Fitzgerald was also outside the inner Cambridge circle but had been educated at that Cambridge satellite, Trinity College, Dublin, and later taught there.
174. Oliver Lodge, Modern Views of Electricity, London, 1889.
175. See, for example, UCL: Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Thompson to Lodge, 10 February 1889.
176. Sometimes advice was sought on the kind of arcane matters for which the classically trained Thompson was renowned. For example, Thompson advised Lodge to spell 'aethereal, always with an 'e' and not an 'i' if he wished to avoid offending his fellow clubmen at the Athenaeum. Lodge claimed he used both spellings, 'aetherial for physics and 'aethereal' for poetry, but his publishers wanted consistency. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Thompson to Lodge, 17 March 1907 and Lodge to Thompson, 19 March 1907 .
177. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Thompson to Lodge, 28 September 1889.
178. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104. The history was written after more than a decade of litigation appeared to be coming to a head. See also Lodge to Thompson, 23 March 1911 and 'Notes on the Coherer method of detecting Hertzian Waves and similar matters'. Lodge, a friend of Hertz, had demonstrated wireless telegraphy at the Royal Institution in 1894, and later challenged a few of Marconi's patents. For another historian's take on this controversy, one favourable to Marconi, see Sungook Hong, 'Marconi and the Maxwellians: the origins of wireless telegraphy revisited', Technology and Culture (1994), 35, 717-49.
179. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104. The history was written after more than a decade of litigation appeared to be coming to a head. See also Lodge to Thompson, 23 March 1911 and 'Notes on the Coherer method of detecting Hertzian Waves and similar matters'. Lodge, a friend of Hertz, had demonstrated wireless telegraphy at the Royal Institution in 1894, and later challenged a few of Marconi's patents. For another historian's take on this controversy, one favourable to Marconi, see Sungook Hong, 'Marconi and the Maxwellians: the origins of wireless telegraphy revisited', Technology and Culture (1994), 35, 717-49.
180. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Lodge to Thompson, 25 April 1898, Liverpool.
181. Silvanus P. Thompson, 'The inventor of wireless telegraphy', Saturday Review (1902), 93, 424-5 and 'Wireless telegraphy, a rejoinder', ibid., 598-9. For The Times, see UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104 1, Thompson to Lodge, 4 December 1897, Finsbury. Of the first of the Saturday Review pieces, Lodge wrote, 'you certainly give it to Marconi pretty strong, I hope not unduly strong'. See also Lodge to Thompson, 11 April 1902, Birmingham.
182. Silvanus P. Thompson, 'The inventor of wireless telegraphy', Saturday Review (1902), 93, 424-5 and 'Wireless telegraphy, a rejoinder', ibid., 598-9. For The Times, see UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104 1, Thompson to Lodge, 4 December 1897, Finsbury. Of the first of the Saturday Review pieces, Lodge wrote, 'you certainly give it to Marconi pretty strong, I hope not unduly strong'. See also Lodge to Thompson, 11 April 1902, Birmingham.
183. Silvanus P. Thompson, 'The inventor of wireless telegraphy', Saturday Review (1902), 93, 424-5 and 'Wireless telegraphy, a rejoinder', ibid., 598-9. For The Times, see UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104 1, Thompson to Lodge, 4 December 1897, Finsbury. Of the first of the Saturday Review pieces, Lodge wrote, 'you certainly give it to Marconi pretty strong, I hope not unduly strong'. See also Lodge to Thompson, 11 April 1902, Birmingham.
184. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Lodge to Thompson, 5 July 1906. In 1874 Lodge, Thompson and Fleming were students in Frankland's laboratory in South Kensington. For the dispute with Marconi, see letters written between 1897 and 1906 and the 'Notes' in the Lodge papers. See also Jolly, op. cit. (7), 123-30. Until this time Preece and Thompson had been on friendly terms.
185. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Lodge to Thompson, 5 July 1906. In 1874 Lodge, Thompson and Fleming were students in Frankland's laboratory in South Kensington. For the dispute with Marconi, see letters written between 1897 and 1906 and the 'Notes' in the Lodge papers. See also Jolly, op. cit. (7), 123-30. Until this time Preece and Thompson had been on friendly terms.
186. Money was important to Thompson, who complained, with some justification, that he only had one raise in all his years at Finsbury. When it was later rumoured that he was being considered for the vice-chancellorship at Sheffield, Thompson wrote to Lodge that the advance in salary 'would make such a difference'. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, Silvanus Thompson correspondence, MS Add 89/104, Thompson to Lodge, 18 July 1912.
187. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, MS Add 89/104, Thompson to Lodge, 20 June 1909. Emphasis original.
188. UCL, Oliver Lodge papers, Silvanus Thompson correspondence, MS Add 89/104, see letters following Thompson's of 20 June 1909, and Thompson's recognition of Lodge's tact in his letter dated 18 July 1912.
189. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 226. Thompson had help with this translation, notably from his friend Conrad Cooke, another Gilbert enthusiast. It was privately published by Chiswick Press in 1900. An American translation, also prepared for the tercentenary, by P. Fleury Mottelay (reprinted Dover, 1958) had wider success. Fleury Mottelay refers to Thompson and Cooke in his introductory biographical memoir of Gilbert. Thompson also translated Huyghens's Treatise on Light, London, 1912.
190. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 226. Thompson had help with this translation, notably from his friend Conrad Cooke, another Gilbert enthusiast. It was privately published by Chiswick Press in 1900. An American translation, also prepared for the tercentenary, by P. Fleury Mottelay (reprinted Dover, 1958) had wider success. Fleury Mottelay refers to Thompson and Cooke in his introductory biographical memoir of Gilbert. Thompson also translated Huyghens's Treatise on Light, London, 1912.
191. IC Archives, Thompson papers, letter from Sir (Thomas) Clifford Allbutt, 4 February 1912, Cambridge. Allbutt is said to have been the model for Dr Lydgate in George Eliot's Middlemarch.
192. IC Archives, Thompson papers, letter from Sir (Thomas) Clifford Allbutt, 4 February 1912, Cambridge. Allbutt is said to have been the model for Dr Lydgate in George Eliot's Middlemarch.
193. IC Archives, Thompson papers. See, for example, letter from Sir James MacKenzie Davidson, 4 December 1911, Portland Place. James Crichton Browne was also interested and wanted to report on the phenomenon for the journal Brain. See Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 40, for a picture of Thompson engaged in this work. S. P. Thompson, 'On the physiological effects of an alternating magnetic field', Proceedings of the Royal Society (1910), B82, 396-8. Thompson appears to have been interested in the medical applications of electricity and kept a clippings file on the subject which is now in the IEE archives.
194. IC Archives, Thompson papers. See, for example, letter from Sir James MacKenzie Davidson, 4 December 1911, Portland Place. James Crichton Browne was also interested and wanted to report on the phenomenon for the journal Brain. See Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 40, for a picture of Thompson engaged in this work. S. P. Thompson, 'On the physiological effects of an alternating magnetic field', Proceedings of the Royal Society (1910), B82, 396-8. Thompson appears to have been interested in the medical applications of electricity and kept a clippings file on the subject which is now in the IEE archives.
195. IC Archives, Thompson papers. See, for example, letter from Sir James MacKenzie Davidson, 4 December 1911, Portland Place. James Crichton Browne was also interested and wanted to report on the phenomenon for the journal Brain. See Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 40, for a picture of Thompson engaged in this work. S. P. Thompson, 'On the physiological effects of an alternating magnetic field', Proceedings of the Royal Society (1910), B82, 396-8. Thompson appears to have been interested in the medical applications of electricity and kept a clippings file on the subject which is now in the IEE archives.
196. For the history of this club, which still exists, see Colin Franklin, 'B.Q and the O.V', The Book Collector, Special number for the 150th Anniversary of Bernard Quaritch's bookstore (1997), 198-216. The club had forty- two members.
197. For the history of this club, which still exists, see Colin Franklin, 'B.Q and the O.V', The Book Collector, Special number for the 150th Anniversary of Bernard Quaritch's bookstore (1997), 198-216. The club had forty-two members.
198. As Thompson noted in his inaugural address as His Oddship (members took turns at what was a twelve-month term), 'unlike in craft ... yet all united in a common possession of literary tastes'. He also expressed a Masonic/Platonic idea: '[ours] is a little microcosm which the more truly represents the great world without'. 'Inaugural Address', privately printed by the Sette of Odd Volumes, 1904, copy in University of British Columbia Library (subsequently UBC), Special Collections, Colbeck Collection.
199. Opusculum XXII, Sette of Odd Volumes. See Franklin, op. cit. (144). Thompson contributed several further extended essays to the Sette's Opuscula. In his inaugural year he also sent them an amusing composition in archaic French, 'L'histoire joyeuse et veridicque du marillier très-gallant diet le chevalier-errant de Pantagruel et du discours qu'onct faict eulx à propos de la societé très-onorable des tomes dépareillés', privately printed, Sette of Odd Volumes, 1896; copy in UBC, Special Collections, Colbeck Collection.
200. Opusculum XXII, Sette of Odd Volumes. See Franklin, op. cit. (144). Thompson contributed several further extended essays to the Sette's Opuscula. In his inaugural year he also sent them an amusing composition in archaic French, 'L'histoire joyeuse et veridicque du marillier très-gallant diet le chevalier-errant de Pantagruel et du discours qu'onct faict eulx à propos de la societé très-onorable des tomes dépareillés', privately printed, Sette of Odd Volumes, 1896; copy in UBC, Special Collections, Colbeck Collection.
201. S. P. Thompson, William Sturgeon the Electrician, London, 1891. Thompson owned a signed copy of Sturgeon's Course of Twelve Lectures on Galvanism. For more on Sturgeon see Iwan R. Morus, 'Different experimental lives: Michael Faraday and William Sturgeon', History of Science (1992), 30, 1-28 and Iwan R. Morus, Frankenstein's Children: Electricity, Exhibition and Experiment in Early-19th-centnry London, Princeton, 1998. See also K. G. Beauchamp, Exhibiting Electricity, London, 1997, 64-6.
202. S. P. Thompson, William Sturgeon the Electrician, London, 1891. Thompson owned a signed copy of Sturgeon's Course of Twelve Lectures on Galvanism. For more on Sturgeon see Iwan R. Morus, 'Different experimental lives: Michael Faraday and William Sturgeon', History of Science (1992), 30, 1-28 and Iwan R. Morus, Frankenstein's Children: Electricity, Exhibition and Experiment in Early-19th-centnry London, Princeton, 1998. See also K. G. Beauchamp, Exhibiting Electricity, London, 1997, 64-6.
203. S. P. Thompson, William Sturgeon the Electrician, London, 1891. Thompson owned a signed copy of Sturgeon's Course of Twelve Lectures on Galvanism. For more on Sturgeon see Iwan R. Morus, 'Different experimental lives: Michael Faraday and William Sturgeon', History of Science (1992), 30, 1-28 and Iwan R. Morus, Frankenstein's Children: Electricity, Exhibition and Experiment in Early-19th-centnry London, Princeton, 1998. See also K. G. Beauchamp, Exhibiting Electricity, London, 1997, 64-6.
204. S. P. Thompson, William Sturgeon the Electrician, London, 1891. Thompson owned a signed copy of Sturgeon's Course of Twelve Lectures on Galvanism. For more on Sturgeon see Iwan R. Morus, 'Different experimental lives: Michael Faraday and William Sturgeon', History of Science (1992), 30, 1-28 and Iwan R. Morus, Frankenstein's Children: Electricity, Exhibition and Experiment in Early-19th-centnry London, Princeton, 1998. See also K. G. Beauchamp, Exhibiting Electricity, London, 1997, 64-6.
205. While cryptic marks were used by trades people to mark their products, only few Masons used such cryptograms.
206. UBC, Colbeck Collection, PR 11.3 S48E9 1904. 'Inaugural Address by His Oddship, Brother Silvanus P. Thompson, Magnetizer' (1904), Sette of Odd Volumes.
207. Thompson also joined in the camaraderie of the Red Lion dinners held annually at the time of British Association meetings. He is recorded as having given a witty speech with a parody of some of the more formal proceedings at Cardiff in 1891. IC archives, Herbert McLeod Diary, 25 August 1891.
208. Rule 18 stated that 'No Odd Volume shall talk unasked on any subject he understands'. IC Archives, Thompson papers, letters from Hertha Ayrton, 15 January and 8 September 1900, Kensington Park Gardens. Original emphasis. Hertha Marks Ayrton was a student at Finsbury College when Thompson first arrived there. They were regular correspondents on electrical matters.
209. See Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 251; also Thompson obituary in Proceedings of the Royal Society, op. cit. (14), p. xix.
210. See Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 251; also Thompson obituary in Proceedings of the Royal Society, op. cit. (14), p. xix.
211. Newman, op. cit. (28), 386. Symons, op. cit. (16)
212. Newman, op. cit. (28), 386. Symons, op. cit. (16)
213. Symons, op. cit. (16). The collection also includes two fourteenth-century copies of the Epistola de magnete of Peter Peregrinus which inspired Thompson's work on the development of the compass. A few of Thompson's water-colours are also at the IEE, along with his books.
214. According to Lenore Symons (private communication), there is some scholarly dispute over the authorship of the marginal comments.
215. The book plate, designed in 1890, the year he joined the Sette of Odd Volumes, has the motto Industriae Munus. In the centre is a shield surrounded by a square frame in the corners of which are scientific emblems - a compass, a coil, a magnet and a flash of lightning symbolizing electricity. This, and other drawings, reflect an interest in heraldry learned from his father. The motto and emblems reveal something of how Thompson reflected on his own identity.
216. He sent a copy of this to Arthur Rackham, suggesting he illustrate it. Rackham expressed an interest, 'I knew little besides Browning's version before and I had always pictured it somewhat later than 1284 ... [though] costume in my drawings is usually vague and undated'. IC archives, Thompson papers, letter from Arthur Rackham, 19 November 1905, Primrose Hill.
217. S. P. Thompson, Ye Magick Mirrour of Old Japan, London, 1892. The work was privately printed and distributed by the Sette. Ayrton gave Thompson a Japanese mirror. See IC Archives, S. P. Thompson papers, letter from Ayrton, 30 December 1893, Brighton. He and Perry had studied these mirrors in Japan. The mirrors were small, made of bronze, mirrored on one side and with a bas-relief pattern on the other. The mirrored side reflected normally but, in addition, it could be used to reflect sunlight on to surfaces, and the bas-relief pattern could be seen in the centre of such reflections. This effect had been dismissed by Westerners until a mirror was exhibited in South Kensington in 1876.
218. S. P. Thompson, Ye Magick Mirrour of Old Japan, London, 1892. The work was privately printed and distributed by the Sette. Ayrton gave Thompson a Japanese mirror. See IC Archives, S. P. Thompson papers, letter from Ayrton, 30 December 1893, Brighton. He and Perry had studied these mirrors in Japan. The mirrors were small, made of bronze, mirrored on one side and with a bas-relief pattern on the other. The mirrored side reflected normally but, in addition, it could be used to reflect sunlight on to surfaces, and the bas-relief pattern could be seen in the centre of such reflections. This effect had been dismissed by Westerners until a mirror was exhibited in South Kensington in 1876.
219. Introductory memoir, Thompson, op. cit. (75), 16.
220. Thompson, op. cit. (75), 14. Several of his watercolours were exhibited at the Royal Academy and, shortly after his death, ninety-nine paintings were shown at the Alpine Club.
221. Jane and Silvanus Thompson had four daughters (Sylvia, Dorothea, Helen and Irene), all of whom were musical. When Sylvia married William Hanbury Aggs in 1906, the groom's uncle, Sir Thomas Hanbury, gave them a Steinway semi-grand piano and invited them to spend their honeymoon at La Mortola, his Riviera home, which was famous for its gardens. IC archives, wedding notice, October 1906.
222. S. P. Thompson, 'Can a scientific man be a sincere friend ?', paper delivered at the Manchester Conference of the Society of Friends, 1895, 18. Society of Friends Library, Euston Road, Box 468/8. 'Modern thought' was code for Darwinism, scientific research and higher biblical criticism. See Roger C. Wilson, 'Manchester, Manchester and Manchester Again: from "Sound Doctrine" to a "Free Ministry"', Friends Historical Society pamphlet, 1990, 34. See also David Blamires, 'The context and character of the 1895 Manchester conference', The Friends Quarterly (1996), 30, 50-8; David Murray-Rust, 'The Manchester conference and a memoir of Silvanus P. Thompson', Journal of the Friends Historical Society (1995), 57, 199-207. The conference attracted about one thousand Quakers.
223. S. P. Thompson, 'Can a scientific man be a sincere friend ?', paper delivered at the Manchester Conference of the Society of Friends, 1895, 18. Society of Friends Library, Euston Road, Box 468/8. 'Modern thought' was code for Darwinism, scientific research and higher biblical criticism. See Roger C. Wilson, 'Manchester, Manchester and Manchester Again: from "Sound Doctrine" to a "Free Ministry"', Friends Historical Society pamphlet, 1990, 34. See also David Blamires, 'The context and character of the 1895 Manchester conference', The Friends Quarterly (1996), 30, 50-8; David Murray-Rust, 'The Manchester conference and a memoir of Silvanus P. Thompson', Journal of the Friends Historical Society (1995), 57, 199-207. The conference attracted about one thousand Quakers.
224. S. P. Thompson, 'Can a scientific man be a sincere friend ?', paper delivered at the Manchester Conference of the Society of Friends, 1895, 18. Society of Friends Library, Euston Road, Box 468/8. 'Modern thought' was code for Darwinism, scientific research and higher biblical criticism. See Roger C. Wilson, 'Manchester, Manchester and Manchester Again: from "Sound Doctrine" to a "Free Ministry"', Friends Historical Society pamphlet, 1990, 34. See also David Blamires, 'The context and character of the 1895 Manchester conference', The Friends Quarterly (1996), 30, 50-8; David Murray-Rust, 'The Manchester conference and a memoir of Silvanus P. Thompson', Journal of the Friends Historical Society (1995), 57, 199-207. The conference attracted about one thousand Quakers.
225. S. P. Thompson, 'Can a scientific man be a sincere friend ?', paper delivered at the Manchester Conference of the Society of Friends, 1895, 18. Society of Friends Library, Euston Road, Box 468/8. 'Modern thought' was code for Darwinism, scientific research and higher biblical criticism. See Roger C. Wilson, 'Manchester, Manchester and Manchester Again: from "Sound Doctrine" to a "Free Ministry"', Friends Historical Society pamphlet, 1990, 34. See also David Blamires, 'The context and character of the 1895 Manchester conference', The Friends Quarterly (1996), 30, 50-8; David Murray-Rust, 'The Manchester conference and a memoir of Silvanus P. Thompson', Journal of the Friends Historical Society (1995), 57, 199-207. The conference attracted about one thousand Quakers.
226. This lecture, endowed in 1907, was to be given annually. It was named after the home of Margaret Fox, a place 'always open to the earnest seekers of truth'. Silvanus P. Thompson, ' The quest for truth', Swarthmore Lecture, London, 1915, preface.
227. Thompson, op. cit. (163), 55. Arthur Eddington's Swarthmore Lecture, 'Science and the unseen world', London, 1929, represents a later phase of Quaker accommodation with science and reads much more like a scientific lecture. Eddington was better trained in formal philosophy and mathematics than was Thompson, but the spiritual dimension to his thinking will have been less clear to a general audience. Thompson's earlier lecture was moved from the Bishopsgate Meeting House to the Methodist Central Hall to accommodate the large audience of about sixteen hundred. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 328.
228. Thompson, op. cit. (163), 55. Arthur Eddington's Swarthmore Lecture, 'Science and the unseen world', London, 1929, represents a later phase of Quaker accommodation with science and reads much more like a scientific lecture. Eddington was better trained in formal philosophy and mathematics than was Thompson, but the spiritual dimension to his thinking will have been less clear to a general audience. Thompson's earlier lecture was moved from the Bishopsgate Meeting House to the Methodist Central Hall to accommodate the large audience of about sixteen hundred. Thompson and Thompson, op. cit. (11), 328.
229. Some Quakers were more equivocal on this point than Thompson. Quaker voices at the Manchester conference questioned a universal pacificism, as they did later during the South African War. For example, one of Thompson's mentors, the historian Thomas Hodgkin, stated, 'if all war is absolutely condemned under all circumstances by the Sermon on the Mount, business ... is equally condemned'. Quoted in Isichei, op. cit. (8), 175. See also Thompson, op. cit. (75), 9.
230. Some Quakers were more equivocal on this point than Thompson. Quaker voices at the Manchester conference questioned a universal pacificism, as they did later during the South African War. For example, one of Thompson's mentors, the historian Thomas Hodgkin, stated, 'if all war is absolutely condemned under all circumstances by the Sermon on the Mount, business ... is equally condemned'. Quoted in Isichei, op. cit. (8), 175. See also Thompson, op. cit. (75), 9.
231. Thompson's younger colleague, mechanical engineer William Ernest Dalby (1862-1936), in a letter to Jane Thompson, reminisced about the college and mentioned Thompson's role as a spiritual guide to students in trouble. IC Archives, Thompson papers, October 1918 (no date).
232. S. P. Thompson, A Not Impossible Religion, London, 1919, preface. Interestingly, he names those he saw as devout many-sided scientists of the type he admired; among them are the geologist Canon Bonney, with whom he discussed spiritual matters, and the astronomer William Huggins.
233. See Colin A. Russell, Edward Frankland: Chemistry, Controversy and Conspiracy in Victorian England, Cambridge, 1996. With hindsight, it can perhaps be said that Frankland was the only great scientist (as opposed to man of science) among his X-Club colleagues.
234. As, for example, the preservation of Epping Forest, the organization of several memorials, including the attempt to memorialize Herbert Spencer in Westminster Abbey. See Hannah Gay, 'No "Heathen's Corner" here: the failed campaign to memorialize Herbert Spencer in Westminster Abbey', BJHS (1998), 31, 41-54.
235. David Knight, The Age of Science, Oxford, 1986, 5.
236. None of the several Cambridge-educated applicants for the Finsbury College principalship made the short list (only one had any City backers). Guildhall Library, CGLI papers, Ms 21821, volume 2, entries for February and March 1885.
237. Royal Society obituary notice, op. cit. (14), p. xvii.
238. Peregrinus was a thirteenth-century authority on the lodestone. Thompson's translation brought letters of praise from another mentor, the historian Thomas Hodgkin, Quaker, grandson of Luke Howard and member of the British Academy. It was there that Thompson first publicly presented this work in 1907. IC Archives, Thompson papers, letter from Thomas Hodgkin, 1 January 1906. A copy of a lecture by Thompson on the early compass is in the IC archives, Thompson papers 595/1592, as are lecture notes on 'Legends concerning Lodestones', 597/1591.7. Hodgkin and Edward Fry were close friends and had been students together at University College London.
239. In Thompson's case, we cannot do for Quakerism what Cantor has done for Sandemanianism and Faraday's science, or what Smith has done for Scottish Presbyterianism and the science of energy in the nineteenth century. Geoffrey Cantor, Michael Faraday: Sandemanian and Scientist, London, 1991; Smith, op. cit. (125).
240. In Thompson's case, we cannot do for Quakerism what Cantor has done for Sandemanianism and Faraday's science, or what Smith has done for Scottish Presbyterianism and the science of energy in the nineteenth century. Geoffrey Cantor, Michael Faraday: Sandemanian and Scientist, London, 1991; Smith, op. cit. (125).
241. Ghettoization in the sciences would be an interesting avenue to pursue. In England, wealthy young Anglicans could study mathematics at Cambridge. Other young people interested in science (Thompson and Meldola, for example) had to seek opportunities elsewhere. During the nineteenth century the rise in importance in practical science provided them with new opportunities initially disdained, but later embraced, by the elite. In Germany the situation seems to have been somewhat different. Experimental science drew the elites; others, academically gifted Jews for example, had to make their mark elsewhere. Mathematics and theoretical physics were cheap alternatives, requiring only ability, pencil and paper.
242. By the later nineteenth century Quakers were fairly well integrated, but something similar might be said of Switzerland, a favoured holiday spot for late Victorian Britons, including Thompson. Those with the means to go to Switzerland could mix on neutral territory with other scientists and their families, academics, politicians, wealthy professionals, British and foreign aristocracy, businessmen, artists and so on.
243. Thompson, 'Presidential Address', op. cit. (1), 13.
244. Perhaps he also felt some empathy with a man who left his trade for lecturing work in Manchester and ended his life in poverty and obscurity.