John Samuel Slater (born 1850 in Calcutta; died 1911 in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

) was a British professor of Civil Engineering at the Presidency College, Calcutta, and later principal of the

Engineering College Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional development, professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (Bachelor's degree, bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any ...

Sibpur Shibpur or Sibpur is a neighbourhood in Howrah city of Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is well known for being the location of the ...

Life and work

John Samuel Slater was educated at Pocklington Grammar School, and Bishop Cotton School, Simla. He graduated in 1870 at the Thomason Civil Engineering College,

Roorkee Roorkee (Rūṛkī) is a city and a municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is from Haridwar city, the district headquarter. It is spread over a flat terrain under Sivalik Hills of Himalayas. The c ...

, obtaining the gold medal for mathematics. The same year he was appointed to the Public Works Department of the Government of India and served at Dera Ghazi Khan and other locations in the Punjab.''Obituary Notices: Fellows: Slater, John Samuel.''
In: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 72, p. 252–253. In 1875, he was appointed Professor of Engineering at the

Presidency College Calcutta Presidency University, Kolkata (formerly known as Presidency College, Kolkata) is a second major public state aided research university located in College Street, Kolkata. Considered as one of best colleges when Presidency College was affili ...

, and in 1880, when the Engineering Department of that College was formed into an independent residential Engineering College at Sibpur, he took a leading part in its organisation, became one of the original members of its staff, and was eventually appointed Principal in 1891. He inaugurated a scheme of modern education for the District Schools of Bengal and Assam, and was responsible for the reorganisation of the technical schools of those two provinces. In 1897, he was for some months Inspector of Schools of the Rajshahi Division, and in 1901 officiated as head of the Educational Department of Bengal. In 1904, he was incapacitated by a serious illness which necessitated his retirement from India. He was responsible for teaching astronomy to the students of the Engineering College, and was always keenly interested in that science. In 1891, while on leave, he devised and patented an armillary sphere. He presented this to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1891.Museum of the History of Science
''Record Details: Slater's Armillary Sphere, English, c. 1890.''
/ref> which he used for instructional purposes. After his retirement, he devoted himself enthusiastically to an investigation of the pollen of plants, and prepared by micro-photography a very large number of enlarged photographs of pollen grains. The value of his work in this direction was recognised by the botanical authorities at Kew.

Family

He married in 1873 Jessie Frances, by whom he had a son and a daughter.

Patents

* He didn't make th
''Armillary sphere. US patent No 482,278.''
Patented 6 September 1892.

References

External links

Photo of Slater's armillary sphere in the Museum of the History of Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slater, John Samuel English civil engineers Academic staff of Presidency University, Kolkata 1850 births 1911 deaths British inventors British people in colonial India