Elihu Thomson (March 29, 1853 – March 13, 1937) was an English-born American

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

who was instrumental in the founding of major electrical companies in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Early life

He was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, on March 29, 1853, but his family moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

in the

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 Edison General Electric Company to become the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

.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 ninventor and in the business world as nentrepreneur. 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 British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE) of Schenectady, New York, United States. They were kno ...

(BTH), and the French companies Thomson SA (now Technicolor SA) and

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the A ...

(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 General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...

in 1892, Thomson chose to keep his laboratory at

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

near Boston away from GE's New York headquarters to ensure his control over his research. At the Lynn GE plant, he worked with Edwin Rice (later President of GE in 1913) and Sanford Moss and Charles Steinmetz (who was located at GE headquarters in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Yo ...

). After being asked to become a director of GE, Thomson rejected the offer preferring continued research to management.

Honors

Thomson 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."; Thomson was also president of the organization from 1889–90. 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. He was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

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. 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.

Later life

He was a founding member, as well as the second president, of the

International Electrotechnical Commission The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; in French: ''Commission électrotechnique internationale'') is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and ...

. 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. 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 Swampscott () is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located up the coast from Boston in an area known as the North Shore. The population was 15,111 as of the 2020 United States Census. A former summer resort on Massachusetts B ...

. The

Elihu Thomson House Swampscott Town Hall, previously the Elihu Thomson House, is a historic building in Swampscott, Massachusetts. The house was designed by architect James T. Kelley (architect), James T. Kelley and built in 1889 for the noted inventor, electrical ...

in Swampscott was designated a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

in 1976 and serves as Swampscott's town hall.

Patents

Thomson held more than 700 patents. Thomson used his patents to bolster his company, Thomson-Houston Company, later General Electric. * Electric-Arc Lamp * Electric Lamp * Electric-Arc Lamp * Regulator For Dynamo-Electric Machines * System Of Electric Distribution * Automatic Compensator For Magnets * System Of Electric Distribution * System Of Electric Distribution * Process Of Electric Soldering * Method Of Electric Welding * Electric-Arc Lamp * Mode Of Making Tools * Electric-Arc Lamp * Electric-Arc Lamp * Electric Switch * Electric-Lighting System * Lightning-Arrester * Regulator For Electric Generators * Mode Of Cooling Electric Motors * Electrostatic Motor * Electrical Welding Of Sheet Metal

Personal life

He married Mary Louise Peck (born: June 1, 1856 in

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the D ...

, Hartford County, Connecticut) on May 1, 1884. Children *Stuart Thomson b: August 13, 1886 *Roland Davis Thomson b: June 17, 1888 *Malcolm Thomson b.: August 30, 1891 *Donald Thurston Thomson b.: April 10, 1893 His second wife was Clarissa Hovey Thomson.

Notes

References

*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)

External links

*
Elihu Thomson PapersElihu Thomson
i
Open LibraryElihu Thomson recounts his childhood
(June 21, 1932) - Youtube video {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Elihu 1853 births 1937 deaths American electrical engineers 19th-century American inventors 20th-century American inventors American patent holders English emigrants to the United States Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni Harvard University alumni IEEE Edison Medal recipients John Fritz Medal recipients Engineers from Manchester Scientists from Philadelphia People from Swampscott, Massachusetts Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Technicolor SA Engineers from Pennsylvania Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences