Elihu Thomson (March 29, 1853 – March 13, 1937) was an English-American engineer and inventor who was instrumental in the founding of major electricity 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.
[ and ] Thomson attended Central High School in Philadelphia and graduated in 1870.
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.
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.
["Elihu Thomson Eightieth Birthday Celebration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology" (The Technology Press: 29 March 1933)] In 1892 the Thomson-Houston Electric Company merged with the
Thomas Edison General Electric Company to become the
General Electric.
[Fitti, Charles J., "Elihu Thomson", APS Library Bulletin, Winter 2001.]
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."[Hughes, Thomas "American Genesis" (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2004).] 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.
Upon the merger of Thomson-Houston Electric Company (his namesake company) to form General Electric in 1892, Thomson chose to keep his laboratory at Lynn, Massachusetts near Boston away from GE's New York headquarters to ensure his control over his research.
Patents
Thomson held more than 700 patents. Thomson used his patents to bolster his company, Thomson-Houston Company, later General Electric.
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Electric-Arc Lamp
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Electric Lamp
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Electric-Arc Lamp
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Regulator For Dynamo-Electric Machines
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System Of Electric Distribution
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Automatic Compensator For Magnets
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System Of Electric Distribution
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System Of Electric Distribution
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Process Of Electric Soldering
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Method Of Electric Welding
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Electric-Arc Lamp
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Mode Of Making Tools
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Electric-Arc Lamp
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Electric-Arc Lamp
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Electric Switch
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Electric-Lighting System
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Lightning-Arrester
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Regulator For Electric Generators
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Mode Of Cooling Electric Motors
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Electrostatic Motor
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Electrical Welding Of Sheet Metal
Awards and honors
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1901: Rumford Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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1909: AIEE Edison Medal of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers
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1912: Elliott Cresson Medal of the Franklin Institute
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1916: Hughes Medal of the Royal Society
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1916: John Fritz Medal of the American Association of Engineering Societies
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1923: Kelvin Gold Medal of the Institute of Civil Engineers
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1925: Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute
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1927: Faraday Medal of the Institution of Engineering and Technology
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.[Fitti, Charles J., "Elihu Thomson", APS Library Bulletin, Winter 2001.]
He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1876.
In 1889, he was decorated by the French Government for his electrical inventions, being made Chevalier et Officier de la Légion d'honneur.
Personal life
He married Mary Louise Peck (born: June 1, 1856 in New Britain, Hartford County, Connecticut) on May 1, 1884.
Children
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Stuart Thomson b: August 13, 1886
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Roland Davis Thomson b: June 17, 1888
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Malcolm Thomson b.: August 30, 1891
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Donald Thurston Thomson b.: April 10, 1893
His second wife was Clarissa Hovey Thomson.
Later life
He was a founding member, as well as the second president, of the International Electrotechnical Commission.
He served as acting president of MIT from 1920–1923.[ Elihu Thomson Papers, American Philosophical Society] Thomson, overcoming his distaste for management, accepted this role during a critical period for the university when it could not otherwise find a president.["Elihu Thomson Eightieth Birthday Celebration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology" (The Technology Press: 29 March 1933)]
On June 21, 1932, at age 79, Thomson was interviewed on film talking about his life and times.
Thomson died at his estate in Swampscott, Massachusetts. The Elihu Thomson House in Swampscott was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1976 and serves as Swampscott's town hall.
See also
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Electricity meter
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Electromagnetic propulsion
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Electronic oscillator
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Negative resistance
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Repulsion motor
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Shaded-pole motor
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Tesla coil
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Three-phase electric power
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Welding
Notes
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Carlson, W. Bernard. Innovation as a Social Process: Elihu Thomson and the Rise of General Electric, 1870-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
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Haney, John L. The Elihu Thomson Collection American Philosophical Society Yearbook 1944.
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Hughes, Thomas "American Genesis" (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2004).
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Thomson, Elihu. Address by Elihu Thomson on Physics in the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 48th Meeting August, 1899.
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Woodbury, David O. Elihu Thomson, Beloved Scientist (Boston: Museum of Science, 1944)
External links
