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George Minchin
George Minchin Minchin (born George Minchin Smith, 1845–1914) was an Irish mathematician and experimental physicist. He was a pioneer in the development of astronomical photometry: the first-ever celestial photometric measurements were made using photovoltaic cells that he developed for the purpose. He invented the absolute sine-electrometer and was a prolific author of mathematical and scientific textbooks and papers.
He was born George Minchin Smith on 25 May 1845 on Valentia Island, County Kerry, Ireland to George Smith and Alice Minchin. His mother died when he was nine years old. His father, an attorney who lived in Donnybrook, Dublin, placed him into the care of his uncle (by marriage) on his mother's side, David Bell. A literary scholar, Bell ran a school in Dublin and was uncle to another pupil at the school, one Alexander Graham Bell. Minchin's notable mathematical ability was encouraged.
He entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1862, matriculating under the name George Minchin Smith, and won the first university scholarship in mathematics in 1865, and the Lloyd exhibition in mathematics. In 1866, he graduated, still as G. M. Smith, with a Gold Medal in mathematics. By then he had assumed the name George Minchin Minchin, receiving his MA in 1870, under the new name, and then Madden's Premium in both 1871 and 1872 for his performance in the Fellowship examinations.
The Smiths were a Protestant family. George Minchin Smith changed his name to George Minchin Minchin evidently because his father had converted to Roman Catholicism and married a Catholic, Marie O’Neill, possibly his housekeeper, with whom he already had three children.
In 1887 Minchin married Emma Fawcett of Lecarrow (or Strandhill), County Leitrim. They had two children, George Robert Neville in 1888 and Una Eleanor in 1890. [George junior became an engineer and later the managing director of Peto & Radford (accumulator manufacturers) and the Chloride battery company.]
In 1875 Minchin became the Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Royal Indian Engineering College (aka Coopers Hill or R.I.E. College) on the outskirts of London, and the same year he was elected to the London Mathematical Society. As a lecturer at RIEC, he was described as "brilliant", much admired for his wit and ability to draw in pupils and colleagues alike with otherwise dull topics. He maintained a regular correspondence, particularly with George Francis FitzGerald. Minchin wrote many mathematical and scientific texts and his clarity of exposition was lauded; he wrote and lectured about the importance of using clear English when producing texts for students. He also encouraged using "a touch of humour," citing the work of George Salmon and James Clerk Maxwell as exemplars. He wrote humorous works including comical mathematical poems. He has been credited with introducing the term 'potential function' with reference to applications in physics and engineering, but George Green had in fact done so as early as 1828. He was noted for being one of the College's best tennis players (he had also been a cricketer). He loved birds and birdwatching and kept a few in cages in his rooms.
Minchin performed early experiments with radio waves, x-rays and photoelectricity, both at RIEC and University College London (in the latter at the new laboratory of George Carey Foster, from 1875). Experiments included coating platinum with light-sensitive dyes, a technique he developed until he was able to detect "Hertzian waves" (radio waves) in his "impulsion cell", and he suspected that the Branly's tube with iron filings which detected the waves operated similarly. The sensitivity of Minchin's photo-electric cell apparatus was tested through a number of thick walls and outside as far as the woods at the edge of the RIEC lawn. A light switch was successfully operated remotely. Oliver Lodge read Minchin's paper, The Action of Electromagnetic Radiation on Films containing Metallic Powders, and developed an improved 'Branly' tube that he named a coherer. In his publication Signalling Across Space Without Wires, Lodge tabled Branly's filings, Minchins impulsion cell and his own (and David Edward Hughes's) coherer as "microphonic" radiation detectors (the others being mechanical, electrical, thermal, chemical and physiological). One year later Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated wireless telegraphy with the usage of a coherer.
In 1877, Minchin began work on using photoelectricity with a view to transmitting images. Four years earlier, Willoughby Smith had discovered the photoelectric effect on selenium rods; Minchin became skilled at creating photovoltaic cells made from selenium. His idea was to have a bundle of many insulated wires in parallel, their ends light-sensitised with selenium to detect an image, and for the far ends to emit a proportional level of light registered by a photographic film, effectively as pixels. The efforts were unsuccessful.
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George Minchin
George Minchin Minchin (born George Minchin Smith, 1845–1914) was an Irish mathematician and experimental physicist. He was a pioneer in the development of astronomical photometry: the first-ever celestial photometric measurements were made using photovoltaic cells that he developed for the purpose. He invented the absolute sine-electrometer and was a prolific author of mathematical and scientific textbooks and papers.
He was born George Minchin Smith on 25 May 1845 on Valentia Island, County Kerry, Ireland to George Smith and Alice Minchin. His mother died when he was nine years old. His father, an attorney who lived in Donnybrook, Dublin, placed him into the care of his uncle (by marriage) on his mother's side, David Bell. A literary scholar, Bell ran a school in Dublin and was uncle to another pupil at the school, one Alexander Graham Bell. Minchin's notable mathematical ability was encouraged.
He entered Trinity College, Dublin in 1862, matriculating under the name George Minchin Smith, and won the first university scholarship in mathematics in 1865, and the Lloyd exhibition in mathematics. In 1866, he graduated, still as G. M. Smith, with a Gold Medal in mathematics. By then he had assumed the name George Minchin Minchin, receiving his MA in 1870, under the new name, and then Madden's Premium in both 1871 and 1872 for his performance in the Fellowship examinations.
The Smiths were a Protestant family. George Minchin Smith changed his name to George Minchin Minchin evidently because his father had converted to Roman Catholicism and married a Catholic, Marie O’Neill, possibly his housekeeper, with whom he already had three children.
In 1887 Minchin married Emma Fawcett of Lecarrow (or Strandhill), County Leitrim. They had two children, George Robert Neville in 1888 and Una Eleanor in 1890. [George junior became an engineer and later the managing director of Peto & Radford (accumulator manufacturers) and the Chloride battery company.]
In 1875 Minchin became the Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Royal Indian Engineering College (aka Coopers Hill or R.I.E. College) on the outskirts of London, and the same year he was elected to the London Mathematical Society. As a lecturer at RIEC, he was described as "brilliant", much admired for his wit and ability to draw in pupils and colleagues alike with otherwise dull topics. He maintained a regular correspondence, particularly with George Francis FitzGerald. Minchin wrote many mathematical and scientific texts and his clarity of exposition was lauded; he wrote and lectured about the importance of using clear English when producing texts for students. He also encouraged using "a touch of humour," citing the work of George Salmon and James Clerk Maxwell as exemplars. He wrote humorous works including comical mathematical poems. He has been credited with introducing the term 'potential function' with reference to applications in physics and engineering, but George Green had in fact done so as early as 1828. He was noted for being one of the College's best tennis players (he had also been a cricketer). He loved birds and birdwatching and kept a few in cages in his rooms.
Minchin performed early experiments with radio waves, x-rays and photoelectricity, both at RIEC and University College London (in the latter at the new laboratory of George Carey Foster, from 1875). Experiments included coating platinum with light-sensitive dyes, a technique he developed until he was able to detect "Hertzian waves" (radio waves) in his "impulsion cell", and he suspected that the Branly's tube with iron filings which detected the waves operated similarly. The sensitivity of Minchin's photo-electric cell apparatus was tested through a number of thick walls and outside as far as the woods at the edge of the RIEC lawn. A light switch was successfully operated remotely. Oliver Lodge read Minchin's paper, The Action of Electromagnetic Radiation on Films containing Metallic Powders, and developed an improved 'Branly' tube that he named a coherer. In his publication Signalling Across Space Without Wires, Lodge tabled Branly's filings, Minchins impulsion cell and his own (and David Edward Hughes's) coherer as "microphonic" radiation detectors (the others being mechanical, electrical, thermal, chemical and physiological). One year later Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated wireless telegraphy with the usage of a coherer.
In 1877, Minchin began work on using photoelectricity with a view to transmitting images. Four years earlier, Willoughby Smith had discovered the photoelectric effect on selenium rods; Minchin became skilled at creating photovoltaic cells made from selenium. His idea was to have a bundle of many insulated wires in parallel, their ends light-sensitised with selenium to detect an image, and for the far ends to emit a proportional level of light registered by a photographic film, effectively as pixels. The efforts were unsuccessful.