English-American engineer and inventor (1853–1937)
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Elihu Thomson (March 29, 1853 – March 13, 1937) was an English-American engineer and inventor who was instrumental in the founding of major electrical companies in the United States, the United Kingdom and France.
Early life
He was born in Manchester, England, on March 29, 1853, but his family moved to Philadelphia in the United States in 1858.[1] Thomson attended Central High School in Philadelphia and graduated in 1870.[2] Thomson took a teaching position at Central, and in 1876, at the age of twenty-three, held the chair of Chemistry. In 1880, he left Central to pursue research in the emerging field of electrical engineering.[3]
Electrical innovations
With Edwin J. Houston, a former teacher and later colleague of Thomson's at Central High School, Thomson founded the Thomson-Houston Electric Company. Notable inventions created by Thomson during this period include an arc-lighting system, an automatically regulated three-coil dynamo, a magnetic lightning arrester, and a local power transformer.[4] In 1892 the Thomson-Houston Electric Company merged with the Edison General Electric Company to become the General Electric Company.[5]
The historian Thomas P. Hughes writes that Thomson "displayed methodological characteristics in the workshop and the laboratory as [an] inventor and in the business world as [an] entrepreneur. He also chose to solve problems in the rapidly expanding field of electric light and power."[6] Thomson's name is further commemorated by the British Thomson-Houston Company (BTH), and the French companies Thomson SA (now Technicolor SA) and Alstom (formerly Alsthom).
Thomson was notable both for his emphasis on models and for the singular focus with which he pursued his research, with Thomson referring to his workshop as a "model room" rather than a laboratory. Between 1880 and 1885, Thomson averaged twenty-one patent applications annually, doubling that average between 1885 and 1890.
Thomson was the first recipient of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (now Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Edison Medal, bestowed upon him in 1909 "For meritorious achievement in electrical science, engineering and arts as exemplified in his contributions thereto during the past thirty years."; Thomson was also president of the organization from 1889–90.[7] Near the end of his life, Thomson's second wife Clarissa Hovey Thomson is reported to have said that she had to carry a basket with her to carry all of Thomson's awards and honors.[5]
In 1889, he was decorated by the French Government for his electrical inventions, being made Chevalier et Officier de la Légion d'honneur.[3] He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Yale (1890). Tufts College in 1892 gave him the degree of Ph.D., and in 1899 he received a D.Sc. from Harvard.[3]
He served as acting president of MIT from 1920–1923.[10] Thomson, overcoming his distaste for management, accepted this role during a critical period for the university when it could not otherwise find a president.[4]
On June 21, 1932, at age 79, Thomson was interviewed on film talking about his life and times.[11]
Carlson, W. Bernard. Innovation as a Social Process: Elihu Thomson and the Rise of General Electric, 1870-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
Haney, John L. The Elihu Thomson Collection American Philosophical Society Yearbook 1944.
Hughes, Thomas "American Genesis" (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2004).
Thomson, Elihu. Address by Elihu Thomson on Physics in the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 48th Meeting August, 1899.
Woodbury, David O. Elihu Thomson, Beloved Scientist (Boston: Museum of Science, 1944)
