''The Electrician'', published in London from 1861–1863 and 1878–1952, was the one of the earliest and foremost

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

periodicals and

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Content Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...

s. It was published in two series: The original ''Electrician'' was published for three years from 1861–1863. After a fifteen year gap, a new series of the ''Electrician'' was in print for 72 years from 1878–1952. ''The Electrician'' is currently remembered as the publisher of

Oliver Heaviside Oliver Heaviside FRS (; 18 May 1850 – 3 February 1925) was an English self-taught mathematician and physicist who invented a new technique for solving differential equations (equivalent to the Laplace transform), independently developed vec ...

's works, in particular the first publication of the

telegrapher's equations The telegrapher's equations (or just telegraph equations) are a pair of coupled, linear partial differential equations that describe the voltage and current on an electrical transmission line with distance and time. The equations come from Oliver ...

, still in wide use for radio engineering. After the periodical ceased publication in 1952, ''The Electrician''s corporation continued on its book publishing business, printing works on physics and electrical engineering, until 1959.

Publication history

''The Electrician'' was originally established in 1861, it was discontinued after about three years. In 1878 a new journal with the same title was launched and thereafter published weekly. ''The Electrician'' billed itself in the early 1860s as "a weekly journal of Telegraphy, Electricity, and Applied Chemistry" and was published by Thomas Piper. The new ''Electrician'' that appeared in the late 1870s was published by James Gray on behalf of the proprietors, John Pender and James Anderson of the Eastern Telegraph Company, the biggest cable firm of the day and had a somewhat different focus. It described itself as "a weekly illustrated journal of electrical engineering, industry and science" and also featured more theoretical aspects of electrical engineering such as

electromagnetism In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions of a ...

. In the late nineteenth century, The Electrician Printing and Publication Company Limited was established and began publishing shorter electrical engineering texts including well-known early electrical engineering titles such as

's ''Electromagnetic Theory'' (1893-1912),

Oliver Lodge Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was a British physicist and writer involved in the development of, and holder of key patents for, radio. He identified electromagnetic radiation independent of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, H ...

's ''The Work of Hertz and Some of His Successors'' (1894), and many others. Some of these publications were based on papers presented elsewhere and published in full in ''The Electrician''. The new series of ''The Electrician'' quickly established itself in the field of electrical engineering and was regularly quoted and cited in ''Nature'', ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

'', and elsewhere.

Other ''Electrician'' magazines

Between 1889 and 1895 an American journal also called ''The Electrician'' was published in New York by Williams & Co. Often referred to as the ''American Electrician'', it was merged into another electrical engineering periodical, ''Electrical World''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Electrician Electrical and electronic engineering journals Publications established in 1861 Publications disestablished in 1952 Defunct journals of the United Kingdom English-language journals Weekly journals 1861 establishments in England 1862 disestablishments in England