- William Sturgeon
Infobox Scientist
name = William Sturgeon
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caption = William Sturgeon
birth_date =May 22 ,1783
birth_place =Whittington, Lancashire
death_date =December 4 ,1850
death_place =Prestwich ,Lancashire
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nationality = English
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field = physicist
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known_for = electromagnet and electro motor
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William Sturgeon (May 22 ,1783 -December 4 ,1850 ) was an English physicist andinventor who made the firstelectromagnet s, and invented the first practicalelectric motor .Sturgeon was born in
Whittington, Lancashire and apprenticed to a shoemaker. He joined the army in 1802 and taught himselfmathematics andphysics . In 1824 he became lecturer in science at theEast India Company College atAddiscombe ,Surrey and in the following year he exhibited his first electromagnet.Gee (2004)] He displayed its power by lifting nine pounds with a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wire through which a current from a single battery was sent. In 1828 he put into practice Ampere's idea of asolenoid .Fact|date=July 2007In 1832 he was appointed to the lecturing staff of the Adelaide Gallery of Practical Science in
London , where he first demonstrated the DC electric motor incorporating a commutator. In 1836 he established the journal "Annals of Electricity", and in the same year he invented agalvanometer .Sturgeon was a close associate of
John Peter Gassiot andCharles Vincent Walker and the three were instrumental in founding theLondon Electrical Society in 1837. [Harrison, W. J. (2004) " [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10439 Gassiot, John Peter (1797–1877)] ", rev. Iwan Rhys Morus, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ", Oxford University Press, accessed 5 Aug 2007 (subscription required)]In 1840 he became superintendent of the
Royal Victoria Gallery of Practical Science inManchester . He formed a close social circle with John Davies, one of the Gallery's promoters, and Davies' studentJames Prescott Joule , a circle that eventually extended to includeEdward William Binney and John Leigh. [Kargon (1977) "pp"38-40] The Gallery closed in 1842, and he earned a living by lecturing and demonstrating. He died inPrestwich in 1850.References
Bibliography
*Gee, W. (2004) " [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26748 Sturgeon, William (1783–1850)] ", rev. Frank A. J. L. James, "
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography ", Oxford University Press, accessed 25 July 2007 ODNBsub
* cite book | author=Kargon, R. H. | title=Science in Victorian Manchester: Enterprise and Expertise | location=Baltimore | publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press | year=1977 | id=ISBN 0-8018-1969-5
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