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Thomas Ranken Lyle
Sir Thomas Ranken Lyle FRS (26 August 1860 – 31 March 1944) was an Irish-Australian mathematical physicist, radiologist, educator, and rugby player.
Lyle was born and educated in Ireland before emigrating to Australia to take up a professorship at the University of Melbourne. There he was a pioneer in the use of X-rays as a medical tool. The Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal is awarded in his name to honour Australian achievements in Physics and Mathematics.
In his earlier years in Ireland he was a rugby union forward of some note, who played club rugby for Dublin University and international rugby for Ireland.
Lyle was born in Coleraine, Ireland in 1860, the second son of Hugh Lyle, a well-to-do landowner. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating in 1883 with full honours and student medals for his work in mathematics and physics. He received his MA in 1887, and continued his studies in advanced physics and mathematics. By 1889 he had emigrated to Australia, and at the age of 29, took up the position of the chair of natural philosophy at the University of Melbourne. In 1891 a Master of Science was introduced at the university, and Lyle used the opportunity to set up a small research program.
In 1892 Lyle married Frances Isobel Clare Millear, the daughter of a prominent Western District grazier, and the two set up home in a professorial house provided by the university. They had four children, Mary, Nancy, Thomas, and Clare. Their first child, Mary Ranken Lyle (born in 1894), became a notable physician, and married Edmund Herring in 1922.
In February 1896, news reached the scientific community in Australia of Wilhelm Röntgen's discovery of a new type of electromagnetic radiation. Lyle was one of several scientists within Australia to attempt to recreate Röntgen's experiments. As the equipment did not exist in the university, Lyle was forced to create it himself. He was an expert glassblower, and was able to make and excavate his own Crookes tube to produce practical X-rays.
Lyle is credited with taking and publishing one of the first X-ray photos in Australia, independently of contemporary fellow pioneers Father Joseph Patrick Slattery and Walter Drowley Filmer, namely a picture of the foot of a Professor Masson, which was reproduced in newspapers the next day. In June 1896 he was invited to take a photo of a patient who had a needle embedded in their hand. The resulting 'shadow photograph', as the images were then known, allowed doctors to remove the needle with a single incision.
In 1901 Lyle and his family moved into a 20-room blue-stone mansion in Irvine Road, Toorak. Lyle and his wife's wealth was such that they were able to hire a staff of eight to look after the household and the family cow. He had joined the board of visitors of the Melbourne Observatory in 1899, and from 1903 until his death he served as chairman. He represented the university on the Victorian Rhodes scholarship selection committee from 1904 until his retirement.
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Thomas Ranken Lyle
Sir Thomas Ranken Lyle FRS (26 August 1860 – 31 March 1944) was an Irish-Australian mathematical physicist, radiologist, educator, and rugby player.
Lyle was born and educated in Ireland before emigrating to Australia to take up a professorship at the University of Melbourne. There he was a pioneer in the use of X-rays as a medical tool. The Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal is awarded in his name to honour Australian achievements in Physics and Mathematics.
In his earlier years in Ireland he was a rugby union forward of some note, who played club rugby for Dublin University and international rugby for Ireland.
Lyle was born in Coleraine, Ireland in 1860, the second son of Hugh Lyle, a well-to-do landowner. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating in 1883 with full honours and student medals for his work in mathematics and physics. He received his MA in 1887, and continued his studies in advanced physics and mathematics. By 1889 he had emigrated to Australia, and at the age of 29, took up the position of the chair of natural philosophy at the University of Melbourne. In 1891 a Master of Science was introduced at the university, and Lyle used the opportunity to set up a small research program.
In 1892 Lyle married Frances Isobel Clare Millear, the daughter of a prominent Western District grazier, and the two set up home in a professorial house provided by the university. They had four children, Mary, Nancy, Thomas, and Clare. Their first child, Mary Ranken Lyle (born in 1894), became a notable physician, and married Edmund Herring in 1922.
In February 1896, news reached the scientific community in Australia of Wilhelm Röntgen's discovery of a new type of electromagnetic radiation. Lyle was one of several scientists within Australia to attempt to recreate Röntgen's experiments. As the equipment did not exist in the university, Lyle was forced to create it himself. He was an expert glassblower, and was able to make and excavate his own Crookes tube to produce practical X-rays.
Lyle is credited with taking and publishing one of the first X-ray photos in Australia, independently of contemporary fellow pioneers Father Joseph Patrick Slattery and Walter Drowley Filmer, namely a picture of the foot of a Professor Masson, which was reproduced in newspapers the next day. In June 1896 he was invited to take a photo of a patient who had a needle embedded in their hand. The resulting 'shadow photograph', as the images were then known, allowed doctors to remove the needle with a single incision.
In 1901 Lyle and his family moved into a 20-room blue-stone mansion in Irvine Road, Toorak. Lyle and his wife's wealth was such that they were able to hire a staff of eight to look after the household and the family cow. He had joined the board of visitors of the Melbourne Observatory in 1899, and from 1903 until his death he served as chairman. He represented the university on the Victorian Rhodes scholarship selection committee from 1904 until his retirement.