Robert Stirling Newall FRS FRAS (27 May 1812 – 21 April 1889) was a Scottish engineer and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

Life and work

Born at

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

on 27 May 1812, Newall began work in a local mercantile office before leaving for London, where, in the employment of Robert McCalmont, he worked on a series of experiments on the rapid generation of steam. He later spent two years promoting McCalmont's business interests in America. Wikisource:Newall, Robert Stirling (DNB00) In 1838, whilst L.D.B. Gordon was studying at the Freiberg School of Mines, Germany, he visited the mines at Clausthal, and met Wilhelm Albert. Impressed by what he saw, he wrote to Robert urging him to "Invent a machine for making

wire rope Steel wire rope (right hand lang lay) Wire rope is several strands of metal wire twisted into a helix forming a composite '' rope'', in a pattern known as ''laid rope''. Larger diameter wire rope consists of multiple strands of such laid rope in ...

s". On receipt of Gordon's letter, Newall designed a wire rope machine, consisting of four strands and four wires to a strand. On Gordon's return to the UK in 1839, he formed a partnership with Robert and Charles Liddell, registering ''R.S. Newall and Company'' in

. On 17 August 1840, Newall took out a patent for "certain improvements in wire rope and the machinery for making such rope." R.S. Newall and Company established a factory in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...

, England, and commenced making wire ropes for "Mining, Railway, Ships' Rigging, and other purposes". From this point forward, Newall was instrumental in developing substantial improvements to submarine

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

cables, devising a method involving the use of gutta percha surrounded by strong wires. The first successful cable, laid between Dover and Calais on 25 Sept. 1851, was turned out from his works, and he continued the manufacture on a large scale. In 1853 he invented the 'brake-drum' and cone for laying cables in deep seas. Owing to the scarcity of engineers competent to deal with the special difficulties of the work, Newall himself directed the submergence of many of his cables. Among these were the lines from Holyhead to Howth, Dover to Ostend, Malta to Corfu, besides several others in the Mediterranean, Suez to Aden, Aden to Kurrachee, Constantinople and Varna to Balaclava in 1855. Half of the first Atlantic cable was manufactured at his works. The last submarine line laid by him personally was that connecting Ringkjobing in Denmark with Newbiggen, Northumberland, in 1868. Newall was a keen astronomer, and he commissioned Thomas Cooke to build a

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to obse ...

for his private observatory at Ferndene, his Gateshead residence. For many years, the 25 inch

refracting telescope A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens as its objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope design was originally used in spyglasses an ...

was the largest in the world, and it was given to the

Cambridge Observatory Cambridge Observatory is an astronomical observatory at the University of Cambridge in the East of England. It was established in 1823 and is now part of the site of the Institute of Astronomy. The old Observatory building houses the Institute ...

after his death in 1889. By the end of the 1950s, the telescope had fallen into disuse, and in 1958 it was donated to the National Observatory of Athens and it was placed at the Penteli Astronomical Station, just north of the city of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1864, of the Royal Society in 1875, and became in 1879 a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. He was decorated with the order of the Rose of Brazil in 1872, and an honorary degree was conferred upon him in 1887 by the University of Durham. Newall married, on 14 Feb. 1849, Mary Pattinson, youngest daughter of Hugh Lee Pattinson FRS, with whom he fathered four sons and one daughter. He is the father of

Hugh Newall Hugh Frank Newall, FRS FRAS (21 June 1857 – 22 February 1944) was a British astrophysicist. He was Professor of Astrophysics (1909) at Cambridge. He was the son of Robert Stirling Newall FRS and his wife Mary, daughter of Hugh Lee Pat ...

FRS. Newall died at his home, Ferndene, on 21 April 1889.

References

External links

Newall's own account of his early submarine cable work

The Newall telescope at the Penteli Observatory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newall, Robert Stirling 1812 births 1889 deaths Scottish astronomers Scottish inventors Fellows of the Royal Society Scientists from Dundee Engineers from Dundee