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Stories from the Institution of Engineering and Technology

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Biography

From under the sea to the edge of space: the work of Oliver Heaviside

By Anne Locker Early life and career Oliver Heaviside (1850-1925) was a telegraphist, self-taught mathematician and reclusive figure. He never attended meetings – he nearly turned down a nomination for Fellowship of the Royal Society over the requirement to come... Continue Reading →

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Steam cars and electric lamps: the expansive career of Colonel Crompton

By Anne Locker The first steam traction engines in India. The first electric lights installed in the Vienna Opera House. The first domestic electricity supply schemes in the UK. These, and many more engineering firsts, were the work of the... Continue Reading →

Hire purchases, milk puddings and difficult friends

By Anne Locker This is the third blog in a series on the Caroline Haslett correspondence project, looking at the ‘D’ section of the correspondence. For earlier blog posts, see here and here. As Director of the Electrical Association for... Continue Reading →

Margaret Partridge – electrical engineer and ‘wicked adventuress’

By Anne Locker, Library and Archives Manager As part of this year’s celebrations to mark the centenary of the Women’s Engineering Society (WES), volunteers and researchers have been drawing out the stories of women who worked in all sectors of... Continue Reading →

Abbé Jean-Antoine Nollet (1700-1770) vs Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Jean-Antoine Nollet was a French clergyman (known as Abbé Nollet) and a physicist. He was particularly interested in the ‘new science of electricity’, which he explored with the help of Du Fey and Reaumur. He joined the Royal Society of... Continue Reading →

John T Irwin Papers

The IET Archives has just completed the cataloguing of a collection called the ‘John T Irwin papers’. Irwin, shown in the image above, was a prolific inventor of electrical instruments and had several careers. Firstly as an instructor and lecturer... Continue Reading →

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