Elihu Thomson

Elihu Thomson (March 29, 1853 – March 13, 1937) was an engineer and inventor who was instrumental in the founding of major electrical companies in the United States, United Kingdom and France.

Biography

He was born in Manchester (England) on 29 March 1853, but his family moved to Philadelphia in 1858. By 1880 he established, with Edwin J. Houston, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company. In 1892 this merged with the Edison General Electric Company to become the General Electric Company. Thomson's name is further commemorated by the British Thomson-Houston Company (BTH), and the French companies Thomson and Alstom. His early companies are also involved in the history of The General Electric Company Limited (GEC) in Britain and the Compagnie Générale d'Electricité in France.

Thomson was a prolific inventor, being awarded over 700 patents. For example, he invented the induction wattmeter mechanism used in electric meters. He was the first recipient of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers AIEE (now Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)) 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." Ironically, Thomson and Houston had been involved in a very public and acrimonious dispute with Edison in 1877-78 over etheric force.

He served as acting president of MIT from 1920-1923. .

Thomson died in his estate in Swampscott, Massachusetts.

The Elihu Thomson House in Swampscott was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1976.

X-Ray Safety

Thomson was one of the few pioneering physicists who were convinced of the dangers of X-Rays and radiation in a period where the subject was treated as a novelty in both science and popular culture, in blithe ignorance of health hazards. In 1896, Thomson deliberately exposed the little finger of his left hand to an x-ray tube for several days, half an hour per day. The resultant effects — pain, swelling, stiffness, erythema and blistering — were convincing for Thomson and others, but not for all. Many prominent physicians still denied that x-rays were in any way harmful, although ofttimes the denial was tempered by a qualification that the effects noted were attributable to misuse of the x-ray.

Patents

Thomson held more than 700 patents. Thomson used his patent in his company, Thomson-Houston Company, and later in General Electric.

See also

• Elihu Thomson House, Swampscott, Massachusetts

References

• Carlson, W. Bernard. Innovation as a Social Process: Elihu Thomson and the Rise of General Electric, 1870-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
• Woodbury, David O. Elihu Thomson, Beloved Scientist (Boston: Museum of Science, 1944)
• Haney, John L. The Elihu Thomson Collection American Philosophical Society Yearbook 1944.
• Thomson, Elihu. Address by Elihu Thomson on Physics in the Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science 48th Meeting August, 1899.

External links

• IEEE Legacies
• Elihu Thomson Papers