William Edward Ayrton
William Edward Ayrton
Born	September 14, 1847 London, England
Died	November 8, 1908 (aged 60) London
Citizenship	British
Fields	physics, electrical engineering
Notable awards	Fellow of the Royal Society

William Edward Ayrton FRS (14 September 1847 – 8 November 1908) was an English physicist and electrical engineer.

[edit] Early life

Ayrton was born in London, educated at University College School and University College, London, and he later studied under Lord Kelvin at Glasgow.

[edit] Career

[edit] India

In 1868, Ayrton went to Bengal in the service of the Indian Government Telegraph department, where he invented a method of detecting faults in lines, which was of great benefit in the maintenance of the overland communications network.

[edit] Japan

In 1873, Ayrton accepted an invitation from the Japanese government as Chair of Natural Philosophy and Telegraphy at the new Imperial College of Engineering, Tokyo. He is credited with introducing the electric arc light to Japan in 1878.

[edit] London

On his return to London six years later, Ayrton became professor of applied physics at the Finsbury College of the City and Guilds of London Technical Institute, and, in 1884, he was chosen professor of electrical engineering at the Central Technical College, South Kensington. He published, both alone and jointly with others, a large number of papers on physical, and in particular electrical, subjects, and his name was especially associated, together with that of Professor John Perry, with the invention of a long series of electrical measuring instruments, including the spiral-spring ammeter, and the wattmeter. They also worked on railway electrification, produced a dynamometer and the first electric tricycle. Ayrton is also known for his work on the electric searchlight. He was awarded a medal by the Royal Society in 1901.

Ayrton died in London in 1908 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery.

Funerary monument, Brompton Cemetery, London

[edit] Hertha Ayrton

Ayrton’s wife, Hertha Marks Ayrton, whom he married in 1885, assisted him in his researches, and became known for her own scientific work on the electric arc and other subjects. In 1899, Ayrton supported Hertha on her way to being elected the first woman member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and the Royal Society awarded her a Royal Medal in 1906. Previously, Ayrton had been married to a cousin, Matilda Chaplin (1846 -1883); their marriage had taken place while Ayrton was on home leave from India and Matilda was involved in the Edinburgh Seven campaign to open medical education to women. William and Matilda's daughter, Edith, married the writer Israel Zangwill and was the mother of the psychologist Oliver Zangwill.

[edit] References

• Graham Gooday's entry in the New Dictionary of National Biography published in September 2004.
• Cortazzi, Hugh (2002). Britain and Japan, Biographical Portraits, Volume IV. Japan Library. ISBN 1-903350-14-X. 
• Morris-Suzuki, Tessa (1994). The Technological Transformation of Japan: From the Seventeenth to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521424925. 

[edit] See also

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Ayrton, William Edward.

• Henry Dyer
• John Milne
• Anglo-Japanese relations