Sir Frank Edward Smith (14 October 1876 – 1 July 1970) was a British physicist and Acting Director of the
National Physical Laboratory between 1936 and 1937.
Biography
Smith was born in
Aston Manor
Aston Manor was a local government district of Warwickshire in what is now northern Birmingham, from the 19th century to 1911, when it was added to Birmingham.
The Aston Manor Local Board of Health was formed in 1869, from part of the ancient par ...
,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
on 14 October 1876, the fourth of seven children of Joseph Smith, an office clerk, and Fanny Jane (née Hetherington).
He was educated at Corbett Street Board School,
Smethwick, and then, from age 11, at Smethwick Central School. He studied at the Birmingham Technical School, from where he won a National Scholarship to the
Royal College of Science
The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from th ...
(RCS). He was top of his class in physics, and received the
Associateship of the RCS in physics (first class) in 1899.
National Physical Laboratory and the Admiralty
After an additional year at the RCS, demonstrating and teaching, Smith joined the
National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in 1900, the year it was founded. He was appointed principal assistant in 1909 and superintendent of the electricity department in 1917. His work ethic was much influenced by that of the director, Sir
Richard Glazebrook
Sir Richard Tetley Glazebrook (18 September 1854 – 15 December 1935) was an English physicist.
Education and early career
Glazebrook was born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, the son of a surgeon. He was educated at Dulwich College unt ...
. Over a period of ten years he worked on the creation of "accurate electrical standards and methods of measurement",
including devices to accurately measure
amperes,
ohm
Ohm (symbol Ω) is a unit of electrical resistance named after Georg Ohm.
Ohm or OHM may also refer to:
People
* Georg Ohm (1789–1854), German physicist and namesake of the term ''ohm''
* Germán Ohm (born 1936), Mexican boxer
* Jörg Ohm (b ...
s, and
volt
The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827).
Defin ...
s, as well as improvements to the
Weston cell
The Weston standard cell is a wet-chemical cell that produces a highly stable voltage suitable as a laboratory standard for calibration of voltmeters. Invented by Edward Weston in 1893, it was adopted as the International Standard for EMF fro ...
.
[ These developments led Smith to propose an international congress on electrical units and standards. It was held in London in 1908. In March 1910 he sailed to Washington to assist the ]National Bureau of Standards
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
in the implementation of the new standards. The Bureau described his contribution: "This work, claiming an accuracy ..of 1 in 100 000, marks the beginning of a new epoch in the history of the absolute measurement of electrical quantities".
From 1914, Smith contributed to the NPL's war work. He invented the first magnetic mine for use against submarines. For this work, the Admiralty awarded him £2000.[ Smith's work to date was recognized by his election to the ]Fellowship of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...
in 1918. In 1919 Smith joined the Admiralty, and in 1920 was appointed director of their new scientific research and experimental department at Teddington.[
]
Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
In 1929 Smith was named secretary to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development.
* Department of Scientific and Industria ...
(DSIR), where he worked until 1939. He is said to have shown “great skill both in organization and consolidation, and in dealing with government departments, politicians, and industrialists”.[ During this period he was also active in many other organisations, including secretary of the Royal Society's council (1929-1938); president of the Physical Society (1924-1926); founder fellow of the Institute of Physics in 1920 (and later its president); and a governor of the ]Imperial Institute
The Commonwealth Education Trust is a registered charity established in 2007 as the successor trust to the Commonwealth Institute. The trust focuses on primary and secondary education and the training of teachers and invests on educational pro ...
(1930–1938).
In 1938 Smith accepted a post as scientific adviser to Anglo Iranian Oil (later British Petroleum). He also worked in association with the Birmingham Small Arms Company, at first as an unofficial adviser, but in 1944 as chairman of the research committee. In 1947 he became a director, and resigned in 1957 on his eighty-first birthday.[
]
Family
Smith married Nelly May King in 1902. They had one daughter, Betty May born in 1909. She married John H Fry in 1936, and died on 20 December 1990.
Lady Nelly May Smith died at Minehead Hospital on 30 August 1961. Sir Fank Edward Smith died on 1 July 1970 at Blenheim Lodge Nursing Home, Minehead.
The Royal Society's memoir on Smith notes “… a curious incident. Between the issue of ''Who's Who'' for 1936 and that for 1937 the record of his birthday was changed to three years later, i.e. to 14 October 1879. His birth certificate at the Record Office, Somerset House and all the earlier records are consistent in giving his birthday as 14 October 1876. This change may have been a type-setter’s up-turning of a ‘6’ to a ‘9’ which Smith probably did not at first notice .. Later on in his life he began to adopt the changed date.”[ Even more curiously, the dates of birth for Smith, his wife and his daughter are all shown in the 1939 England and Wales Register as 3 or 4 years later than the true dates.
]
Honours and awards
*1899 ARCS, 1st class
*1918 OBE
*1918 FRS
*1922 CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
*1925 Hughes Medal
The Hughes Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "in recognition of an original discovery in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism or their applications". Named after David E. Hughes, the medal is awarded with ...
of the Royal Society
*1926 CB
*1926 Hon DSc University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
*1927 Duddell Medal
The Dennis Gabor Medal and Prize (previously the Duddell Medal and Prize until 2008) is a prize awarded biannually by the Institute of Physics for distinguished contributions to the application of physics in an industrial, commercial or business ...
of the Physical Society
*1930 Hon LLD University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...
*1931 Hon LLD University of Aberdeen
, mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
, established =
, type = Public research universityAncient university
, endowment = £58.4 million (2021)
, budget ...
*1931 KCB
*1934 Faraday Medal
The Faraday Medal is a top international medal awarded by the UK Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (previously called the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE)). It is part of the IET Achievement Medals collection of awards. ...
by the Institution of Electrical Engineers
The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of T ...
*1934 Gustav Canet Medal of the Junior Institution of Engineers
*1936 Hon DSc University of Sheffield
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
*1936 Charles Parsons Memorial Medal of North East Coast Engineers and Shipbuilders
*1937 Fellow, Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
*1938 Honorary Fellow, Institution of Civil Engineers
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...
*1938 Honorary Fellow, Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application.
It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physic ...
*1939 GBE
*1942 GCB
*1947 USA Medal of Freedom with Silver Palm
References
External links
* http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=1812&inst_id=3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Frank Edward
1876 births
1970 deaths
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
Fellows of the Royal Society
Presidents of the Institute of Physics
Presidents of the Physical Society
Scientists of the National Physical Laboratory (United Kingdom)