A Victorian Scientist and Engineer: Fleeming Jenkin and the Birth of Electrical Engineering [Hardcover]

Colin Hempstead (Author), Gillian Cookson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0754600793 | ISBN-13: 978-0754600794 | Publication Date: April 2000 | Edition: First Edition

In a life of only 52 years, Fleeming Jenkin established a reputation as a pioneer in the new world of electrical engineering, known for his work on undersea telegraphs and more. This biography illuminates his life, aspects of Victorian intellectual society and the organization of science.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 217 pages
• Publisher: Ashgate Pub Ltd; First Edition edition (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754600793
• ISBN-13: 978-0754600794
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,634,869 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Well-researched biography of a pioneer electrical engineer, October 20, 2000

By 

Bill B "CableGuy" (Long Island, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Victorian Scientist and Engineer: Fleeming Jenkin and the Birth of Electrical Engineering (Hardcover)

Fleeming Jenkin was one of the early British electrical engineers,  instrumental in the successful laying of many submarine telegraph cables.   His career began in 1857 at Newall and Co., during the period in which the company was making the first Atlantic Cable.  He was subsequently in partnership with William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) and  C.F. Varley, developing many of the theories of submarine cable working, and supplying instruments and consulting services to most of the cable-laying companies.

Jenkin received 37 patents between 1860 and 1886; and continued his electrical engineering work while a professor at Edinburgh University.  He published papers in many other fields including civil engineering, economics, speech research, and the theatre.  He was a close friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote Jenkin's first biography in 1887, shortly after Jenkin's death; this was more of a personal memoir and did not do justice to Jenkin's many technical achievements.

Cookson and Hempstead's biography of Jenkin is an excellent view of his life in all its aspects.  Extensively researched from many primary sources, it gives details of the work of the electrical engineering pioneers of the Victorian era and provides a clear picture of the birth of a major industry.