Thomas Commerford Martin (July 22, 1856 – May 17, 1924) was an American

electrical engineer 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 ...

and editor. Martin was born in

Limehouse Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains throug ...

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 b ...

. His father worked with

Lord Kelvin William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (26 June 182417 December 1907) was a British mathematician, Mathematical physics, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. Professor of Natural Philosophy (Glasgow), Professor of Natural Philoso ...

and other pioneers of submarine telegraph cables, and Martin worked on the cable-laying ship

SS Great Eastern SS ''Great Eastern'' was an iron sail-powered, paddle wheel and screw-propelled steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and built by John Scott Russell & Co. at Millwall Iron Works on the River Thames, London. She was the largest ship ev ...

. Educated as a theological student, Martin travelled to the United States in 1877. He was associated with

Thomas A. Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

in his work in 1877–1879 and thereafter engaged in editorial work. From 1883 to 1909 he served as editor of the ''Electrical World'', after 1909 was executive secretary of the

National Electric Light Association The National Electric Light Association (NELA) was a national United States trade association that included the operators of electric central power generation stations, electrical supply companies, electrical engineers, scientists, educational i ...

, and in 1900–1911 was a special agent of the United States Census Office. Martin lectured at the Royal Institution of Engineers, London, the

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Société Internationale des Electriciens, the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. He was a founding member of the

American Institute of Electrical Engineers The American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) was a United States-based organization of electrical engineers that existed from 1884 through 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) to form the Instit ...

, and served as president in 1887–1888. __NOTOC__

Publications

* ''The Electric Motor and Its Applications'' (1887; third edition, 1888), with Joseph Wetzler * '' Edison, His Life and Inventions'', (1910), with Frank Lewis Dyer * ''

The Inventions, Researches, and Writings of Nikola Tesla ''The Inventions, Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla'' is a book compiled and edited by Thomas Commerford Martin detailing the work of Nikola Tesla through 1893. The book is a comprehensive compilation of Tesla's early work with many illustra ...

'' (1893; third edition, 1894) *
The Story of Electricity
', 1919 (ed) with Stephen Leidy Coles * ''Reminiscences Of Pioneer Days In St. Paul'' with Frank Moore,

References

Sources

T. C. Martin biography retrieved December 1, 2009
*

External links

* * * American biographers American magazine editors American engineers English emigrants to the United States 1856 births 1924 deaths {{US-engineer-stub