View source for Charles Algernon Parsons

{{short description|Anglo-Irish mechanical engineer and inventor (1854–1931)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox engineer
| honorific_prefix  = [[Sir]]
| honorific_suffix  = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OM|KCB|FRS}}
| image             = Charles Algernon Parsons.jpg
| birth_date        = {{birth date|df=y|1854|6|13}}
| birth_place       = [[London]], England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=y|1931|2|11|1854|6|13}}
| death_place       = ''[[RMS Empress of Canada (1928)|Duchess of Richmond]]''
| resting_place     = Church of St Bartholomew, [[Northumberland]]
| alma_mater        = [[Trinity College Dublin]] (B.A., 1871)<br>[[St John's College, Cambridge]] (M.A., 1877)
| occupation        = {{hlist|Engineer|inventor}}
| known_for         = Inventing the modern [[steam turbine]] (1884)
| notable_works     = ''[[Turbinia]]'' (1894)
| spouse            = {{marriage|[[Katharine Bethell]]|1883}}
| children          = 2, including [[Rachel Mary Parsons|Rachel]]
| parents           = {{ubl|[[William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse]]|[[Mary Rosse|Mary Field]]}}
| relatives         = [[Lawrence Parsons, 4th Earl of Rosse]] (brother)
| awards            = {{plainlist|
*[[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1898)
*[[Rumford Medal]] (1902)
*[[Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts)|Albert Medal]] (1911)
*[[Royal Society Bakerian Medal|Bakerian Medal]] (1918)
*[[Franklin Medal]] (1920)
*[[Faraday Medal]] (1923)
*[[Kelvin Gold Medal]] (1926)
*[[Copley Medal]] (1928)
*[[Bessemer Gold Medal]] (1929)
}}
| honours          = {{plainlist|
*[[File:Order of the Bath UK ribbon.svg|25px]] [[Order of the Bath]] (Knight Commander, 1911)
*[[File:Galó de l'Orde del Mèrit (UK).svg|25px]] [[Order of Merit]] (1927)
}}
| discipline       = [[Mechanical engineering]]
| employer         = [[C. A. Parsons and Company]]<br>[[Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company]]
| significant_advance = [[Heat engine]]<br>[[Steamship]]
| significant_awards = [[Engineering Heritage Awards|Engineering Heritage Award]] (1995)
}}

'''Sir Charles Algernon Parsons''' (13 June 1854 – 11 February 1931) was an [[Anglo-Irish people|Anglo-Irish]]<ref name="UL, A-I" >{{Cite web
  |title= Charles Parsons the Person
  |url= http://www.ul.ie/cpi/charles-parsons-person
  |website= University of Limerick
  |quote= ... was an Anglo-Irish engineer,
  |access-date= 16 January 2024
|archive-date= 11 September 2016
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160911133837/http://www.ul.ie/cpi/charles-parsons-person
  |url-status= dead
  }}</ref> mechanical engineer and inventor who designed the modern [[steam turbine]] in 1884.<ref name="EB2018">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Sir Charles Algernon Parsons |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=n.d. |access-date=6 September 2018 |url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Algernon-Parsons }}</ref> His invention revolutionised [[marine propulsion]], and he was also the founder of [[C. A. Parsons and Company]]. He worked as an engineer on [[dynamo]] and [[turbine]] design, and [[power generation]], with great influence in the naval and [[electrical engineering]] fields. He also helped develop optical equipment for [[searchlight]]s and [[telescope]]s. Parsons received the [[Franklin Medal]] in 1920, the [[Faraday Medal]] in 1923, and the [[Copley Medal]] in 1928 for his work, as well as the [[Engineering Heritage Awards]] posthumously in 1995.

His inventions and developments were used in many appliances during the early 20th century, including both naval and optical devices. He was elected to the [[Fellow of the Royal Society|Royal Society]] in 1898, and he served as the president of the [[British Association]] between 1916 and 1919. For his lasting  contributions, Parsons was knighted in 1911, and he became a member of the [[Order of Merit]] in 1927. He additionally received the [[Bessemer Gold Medal]] in 1929.

Parsons died in 1931 on board the [[SS_Duchess_of_Richmond_(1928)|''Duchess of Richmond'']] due to [[neuritis]]. He was buried at the church of St Bartholomew in [[Kirkwhelpington]], [[Northumberland]].

== Career and commercial activity ==

Parsons was born into an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family on 13 June 1854<ref>{{Cite web
  |title= Charles Parsons the Person
  |url= http://www.ul.ie/cpi/charles-parsons-person
  |website= University of Limerick
  |quote= ... was an Anglo-Irish engineer,
  |access-date= 26 July 2015
|archive-date= 11 September 2016
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160911133837/http://www.ul.ie/cpi/charles-parsons-person
  |url-status= dead
  }}</ref><ref name="Weightman2011">{{Cite book |title= Children of Light  |last= Weightman  |first= Gavin   |publisher= Atlantic Books  |year= 2011  |isbn= 978-0857893000  |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=k-Tqvt-JrO0C&pg=PA112  |page= 112  |quote= Charles Algernon Parsons was from the English aristocracy}}</ref><ref name="Invernizzi2013">{{cite book|last= Invernizzi|first= Costante Mario |title= Closed Power Cycles: Thermodynamic Fundamentals and Applications|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RV9DAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|year= 2013|publisher= Springer|isbn= 978-1-4471-5140-1|pages= 1–}}</ref> in London as the youngest son of the astronomer [[William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse]]. The family seat is [[Birr Castle]], [[County Offaly]], Ireland, and the town of [[Birr, County Offaly|Birr]] was called Parsonstown, after the family, from 1620 to 1901.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.offalyarchives.com/index.php/parsonstown?onlyDirect=1 |title=Search: Parsonstown |website=www.offalyarchives.com}}</ref>

With his three brothers, Parsons was educated at home in Ireland by private tutors,<ref name="Rosse1968">{{Cite journal |title= William Parsons, third Earl of Rosse |author= The Earl of Rosse |journal= Hermathena |date=Autumn 1968 |issue= 107 |pages= 5–13 |access-date= 6 September 2018 |jstor= 23040086 |url = http://www.tcd.ie/Secretary/FellowsScholars/discourses/discourses/1968_Lord%20Rosse%20on%20W.%20Parsons.pdf}}</ref> including [[John Purser (mathematician)|John Purser]] and [[Sir Robert Ball]], all of whom were well versed in the sciences and also acted as practical assistants to the Earl in his astronomical work. Parsons then read mathematics at [[Trinity College Dublin]], and at [[St. John's College, Cambridge]], graduating from the latter in 1877 with a first-class honours degree.<ref name="Venn">{{acad|id= PRSS873CA|name= Parsons, the Hon. Charles Algernon}}</ref> He joined the [[Newcastle Upon Tyne|Newcastle]]-based engineering firm of [[Armstrong Whitworth|W. G. Armstrong]] as an apprentice, an unusual step for the son of an earl. Later he moved to [[Kitson & Co.|Kitsons]] in Leeds, where he worked on rocket-powered [[torpedo]]es.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Turbine Revolution |author= |work=Key Military |date=31 December 2020 |access-date=13 June 2022 |url= https://www.keymilitary.com/article/turbine-revolution}}</ref>

=== Steam turbine engine ===

[[Image:Parson's Compound Steam Turbine - 1887 - Project Gutenberg eText 17167.png |thumb|First [[Compound steam engine|compound steam turbine]], built by Parsons in 1887]]

[[File:1900 Elberfeld 1MW Generator.jpg |thumb|Parsons's first 1 MW [[turbogenerator]] built for the city of [[Elberfeld, Germany]], in 1899 produced [[Single-phase generator|single-phase electricity]] at 4&nbsp;kV]]
In 1884 Parsons moved to [[Clarke Chapman|Clarke, Chapman and Co.]], ship-engine manufacturers operating near Newcastle, where he became head of their electrical-equipment development. He used [[Henri Victor Regnault|Regnault]]'s large collection of steam properties ("data of the physicists") to develop a turbine engine turning at 18,000 [[Revolutions per minute|RPM]]<ref name=hamm>{{cite web |author1-link=Bill Hammack |last1=Hammack |first1=Bill |title=Reclaiming Engineering in the Minds of the Public |url=https://engineerguy.com/axs/ax.pl?/white-papers/hammack-hoover-speech-aiche-2021-11-08.pdf |date=8 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Steam Turbine: The Surprising Relationship of Engineering & Science |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8lXXg8dWHk |author1-link=Bill Hammack |last1=Hammack |first1=Bill | website=[[YouTube]] |language=en |date=11 May 2023}}</ref> in 1884 and immediately utilised the new engine to drive an electrical generator, which he also designed. Parsons's [[steam turbine]] made cheap and plentiful electricity possible and revolutionised marine transport and naval warfare.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.universityscience.ie/pages/scientists/sci_charles_parsons.php |title= Charles Parsons (1854–1931) |access-date= 6 February 2005 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080110063209/http://www.universityscience.ie/pages/scientists/sci_charles_parsons.php |archive-date= 10 January 2008 |work= Profiles of Scientists from Irish Universities}}</ref>

Another type of steam turbine at the time, invented by [[Gustaf de Laval]] (1845–1913) in the 1880s, was an [[Impulse steam turbine|impulse design]] that subjected the mechanism to huge centrifugal forces and so had limited output due to the weakness of the materials available. Parsons explained in his 1911 [[Rede Lecture]] that his appreciation of the scaling issue led to his 1884 breakthrough on the compound steam turbine:

<blockquote>It seemed to me that moderate surface velocities and speeds of rotation were essential if the turbine motor was to receive general acceptance as a prime mover. I therefore decided to split up the fall in pressure of the steam into small fractional expansions over a large number of turbines in series, so that the velocity of the steam nowhere should be great...I was also anxious to avoid the well-known cutting action on metal of steam at high velocity.<ref name="smil">{{cite book |page= [https://archive.org/details/creatingtwentiet0000smil/page/62 62]| title= Creating the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations of 1867–1914 and Their Lasting Impact |first= Vaclav |last= Smil |isbn= 0-19-516874-7 |url= https://archive.org/details/creatingtwentiet0000smil |url-access= registration |quote= Transformer coltman 1988.|year= 2005|publisher= Oxford University Press}}</ref></blockquote><!-- at 18 kRPM rather than 50 kRPM -->

=== Founding Parsons and Company ===

In 1889 he founded [[C. A. Parsons and Company|C.&nbsp;A.&nbsp;Parsons and Company]] in Newcastle to produce [[turbo generator]]s to his design.<ref name=birr/> In the same year he set up the [[Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company]] (DisCo). In 1890, DisCo opened [[Forth Banks Power Station]], the first power station in the world to generate electricity using turbo generators.<ref name="Parsons1939">{{cite book|last= Parsons|first= Robert Hodson |title= The Early Days of the Power Station Industry|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WiIZAAAAIAAJ|year= 1939|publisher= University Press|location= Cambridge|page= 171|chapter= Ch. X}}</ref> In 1894 he regained certain patent rights from [[Clarke Chapman]]. Although his first turbine was only 1.6% efficient and generated a mere 7.5 kilowatts, rapid incremental improvements in a few years led to his first megawatt turbine, built in 1899 for a generating plant at [[Elberfeld, Germany|Elberfeld]] in the German Empire.<ref name=smil/>

[[File:Turbinia At Speed.jpg|thumb| The first [[steam turbine]]-powered ship ''[[Turbinia]]'': fastest in the world at that time]]
[[Image:HMS Dreadnought 1906 H63596.jpg|thumb|HMS {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|2}}, considered the first modern [[battleship]]. In 1906 it was the fastest in the world due to Parsons's [[steam turbine]].]]

=== Marine steam turbine applications ===

Also interested in marine applications, Parsons founded the [[Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company]] in Newcastle. Famously, in June 1897, his turbine-powered [[yacht]], ''[[Turbinia]]'', turned up unannounced at the Navy Review for the [[Diamond Jubilee]] of [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]] at [[Spithead]], on 26 June 1897, in front of the [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|Prince of Wales]], foreign dignitaries, and [[Lords of the Admiralty]]. Moving at speed at [[Queen Victoria]]'s [[Diamond Jubilee]] [[Fleet Review]] off [[Portsmouth]], to demonstrate the great potential of the new technology. The ''Turbinia'' moved at {{Convert|34|knot|abbr= on}}; the fastest [[Royal Navy]] ships using other technologies reached {{Convert|27|knot|abbr= on}}. Part of the speed improvement came from the slender hull of the ''Turbinia''.<ref name="Robertson">{{Cite web |title= Charles Algernon Parsons |last= Robertson |first= Paul |work= [[Cambridge University]] : 125 Years of Engineering Excellence |date= n.d. |access-date= 6 September 2018 | url= http://www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/125/noflash/1875-1900/parsons2.html }}</ref>

Within two years the [[destroyer]]s [[Viper class destroyer|HMS ''Viper'']] and {{HMS|Cobra|1899|2}} were launched with Parsons's turbines, soon followed by the first turbine-powered [[passenger ship]], [[Clyde steamer]] [[TS King Edward|TS ''King Edward'']] in 1901; the first turbine transatlantic liners [[RMS Victorian|RMS ''Victorian'']] and [[RMS Virginian|''Virginian'']] in 1905; and the first turbine-powered battleship, {{HMS|Dreadnought|1906|6}} in 1906, all of them driven by Parsons' turbine engines.<ref name=birr>{{cite web|url= http://www.birrcastle.com/inventionsAndExperiments.asp |title= Chronology of Charles Parsons |publisher= Birr Castle Scientific and Heritage Foundation |access-date= 3 January 2009 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081225130458/http://www.birrcastle.com/inventionsAndExperiments.asp |archive-date= 25 December 2008 }}</ref> ({{As of | 2012}} ''Turbinia'' is housed in a purpose-built gallery at the [[Discovery Museum]], Newcastle.<ref name="DiscMus">{{Cite web |url= http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/discovery/collections.html |title= Collections at Discovery Museum |access-date= 19 June 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120728054722/http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/discovery/collections.html |archive-date= 28 July 2012 |url-status= bot: unknown }}</ref>)

=== Honours and awards ===

Parsons was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in June 1898, received their [[Rumford Medal]] in 1902 and their [[Copley Medal]] in 1928, and delivered their [[Bakerian Lecture]] in 1918.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://royalsociety.org/Lists-of-Royal-Society-Fellows-1660-2007/ |title= Lists of Royal Society Fellows 1660–2007 |publisher= The Royal Society |access-date= 15 July 2010 |location= London |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100324095152/http://royalsociety.org/Lists-of-Royal-Society-Fellows-1660-2007/ |archive-date= 24 March 2010 }}</ref> He served as the president of the [[British Science Association|British Association]] from 1916 to 1919.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/reportofbritisha20adva#page/n83/mode/2up|title= Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science|chapter= President's Address|first= Charles A.|last= Parsons|date= 1919 |location= London | publisher= John Murray}}</ref> He was an Invited Speaker of the [[International Congress of Mathematicians|ICM]] in 1924 at Toronto.<ref>{{cite book|author= Parsons, C. A.|chapter= The steam turbine|title= ''In:'' Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, August 11–16. 1924|volume= 2|pages= 465–472|chapter-url= http://www.mathunion.org/ICM/ICM1924.2/Main/icm1924.2.0019.0022.ocr.pdf|access-date= 2 October 2019|archive-date= 1 December 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042558/http://www.mathunion.org/ICM/ICM1924.2/Main/icm1924.2.0019.0022.ocr.pdf|url-status= dead}}</ref> [[Knight]]ed in 1911, he became a member of the [[Order of Merit]] in 1927.<ref name="SciMus">{{Cite web |url= https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/onlinestuff/people/charles%20algernon%20parsons.aspx |title= Charles Algernon Parsons (1854–1931) |access-date= 6 September 2018 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120214140105/https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/onlinestuff/people/charles%20algernon%20parsons.aspx |archive-date= 14 February 2012 |url-status= dead }}</ref> In 1929 the [[Iron and Steel Institute]] awarded him the [[Bessemer Gold Medal]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.iom3.org/awards-archive|title= Awards archive|publisher= IOM3 |access-date= 9 September 2020}}</ref>

=== Surviving companies ===

The Parsons turbine company survives in the [[Heaton, Newcastle|Heaton]] area of Newcastle as part of [[Siemens]], a [[Germany|German]] [[Conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Focus on the famous Parsons factory in Heaton |last=Warburton |first=Dan |work=[[Evening Chronicle|The Newcastle Chronicle]] |date=20 April 2009 |access-date=13 June 2022 |url= https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/focus-famous-parsons-factory-heaton-1453095}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=North East engineering company investing in future growth with move to 120,000sq ft CA Parsons Works site in Newcastle – NOF |author= |work=NOF |date=29 September 2020 |access-date=13 June 2022 |url= https://www.nof.co.uk/news/2020/september/north-east-engineering-company-investing-in-future-growth-with-move-to-120-000sq-ft-ca-parsons-works-site-in-newcastle/}}</ref> In 1925 Charles Parsons acquired the ''Grubb Telescope Company'' and renamed it ''[[Grubb Parsons]]''.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KAWwzHlDVksC&pg=PA387 |page=387 |title=The History of the Telescope |author=Henry C. King |publisher=Courier Corporation |date=2003 |orig-date=1955 |edition=Dover |publication-date=1979 |isbn=9780486432656 }}</ref> That company survived in the Newcastle area until 1985.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A view of the stars from a place in the sun |author=Ian Ridpath |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=27 June 1985 |page=13 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |access-date=13 June 2022 |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103676133/the-guardian/}}</ref>

Parsons also designed the [[Auxetophone]], an early [[Compressed air gramophone|compressed-air gramophone]].<ref>
{{cite book
 | last = Reiss | first = Eric
 | title = The compleat talking machine: a collector's guide to antique phonographs
 | publisher = Sonoran Pub | location = Chandler, Ariz | year = 2007
 | isbn = 978-1886606227 | page = 217 }}
</ref>

== Personal life and death ==

In 1883, Parsons married [[Katharine Bethell]], the daughter of William F. Bethell. They had two children: the engineer and campaigner [[Rachel Parsons (engineer)|Rachel Mary Parsons]] (b. 1885), and Algernon George "Tommy" Parsons (b. 1886), who was killed in action during World War I in 1918, aged 31.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Heald, Henrietta|title=Magnificent women and their revolutionary machines|year=2019|isbn=978-1-78352-660-4|location=London|oclc=1080083743}}</ref>

They had a London home at 1 [[Brook Street, London|Upper Brook Street]], [[Mayfair]], from 1918 to 1931.<ref>{{cite web |title=Upper Brook Street: North Side Pages 200-210 Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings). Originally published by London County Council, London, 1980. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol40/pt2/pp200-210 |website=British History Online |access-date=12 July 2020}}</ref>

Sir Charles Algernon Parsons died on 11 February 1931, on board the steamship ''[[SS Duchess of Richmond (1928)|Duchess of Richmond]]'' while on a cruise with his wife. The cause of death was given as [[Peripheral neuropathy|neuritis]].<ref name="Times45746">{{Cite newspaper The Times|title=Sir Charles Parsons and Sir Arthurt Dorman |department=Obituaries |date=13 February 1931 |page=14 |issue=45746 |column=B }}</ref> A memorial service was held at [[Westminster Abbey]] on 3 March 1931.<ref>'The Abbey Scientists' Hall, A.R. p48: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966</ref> Parsons was buried in the parish church of St Bartholomew's in [[Kirkwhelpington]] in [[Northumberland]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bid to restore Parsons' graves at Kirkwhelpington|url=https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/features/16614454.bid-restore-parsons-graves-kirkwhelpington/|access-date=27 February 2021|website=Hexham Courant|date=13 February 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

His widow, Katharine, died at her home in Ray Demesne, Kirkwhelpington, Northumberland in 1933.<ref>{{cite news|title=Obituary The Hon. Lady Parsons|url=http://www.wes.org.uk/content/obituary-hon-lady-parsons|access-date=6 January 2015|work=Heaton Works Journal|publisher=[[Women's Engineering Society]]|date=December 1933|archive-date=6 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106235027/http://www.wes.org.uk/content/obituary-hon-lady-parsons|url-status=dead}}</ref> Rachel Parsons died in 1956; stableman Denis James Pratt was convicted of her manslaughter.<ref>{{cite news|title=A history of General Motors in pictures|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/picturegalleries/5423182/A-history-of-General-Motors-in-pictures.html?image=1|work=The Telegraph|access-date=6 January 2015|date = June 2009}}</ref>

In 1919, Katharine and her daughter Rachel co-founded the [[Women's Engineering Society]] with [[Eleanor Shelley-Rolls]], [[Margaret, Lady Moir]], [[Laura Annie Willson]], [[Margaret Dorothea Rowbotham|Margaret Rowbotham]] and [[Janetta Mary Ornsby]], which is still in existence today. Sir Charles was initially a supportive member of the organisation until his wife's resignation.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Heald|first1=Henrietta|title=What was a girl to do? Rachel Parsons (1885–1956): engineer and feminist campaigner|url=http://blue-stocking.org.uk/2014/05/23/what-was-a-girl-to-do-rachel-parsons-1885-1956-engineer-and-feminist-campaigner/|website=blue-stocking|access-date=6 January 2015|date=23 May 2014|quote=In January 1919, Rachel and her mother, Katharine, established the Women’s Engineering Society, with Rachel as the first president and Caroline Haslett, an electrical engineer, as secretary.}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Commemoration==
[[File:Parsons Earls of Rosse (33611696510).jpg|thumb|Parsons's plaque in Birr Castle]]

Parsons's ancestral home at [[Birr Castle]] in Ireland houses a museum detailing the contribution the Parsons family have made to the fields of science and engineering, with part of the museum given over to the engineering work of Charles Parsons.<ref name="birr_Scie">{{Cite web |title=Science Centre at Birr Castle |work=birrcastle.com |date=n.d. |access-date=26 May 2019 |url= https://birrcastle.com/science }}</ref>

Parsons is depicted on the reverse of an Irish silver 15-[[Euro]] silver [[Proof coin]] that was struck in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Launch of new €15 silver proof coin to commemorate life and work of Sir Charles Algernon Parsons|url=https://www.centralbank.ie/news-media/press-releases/charles-parsons-coin-launch-1Sep2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171025190456/https://www.centralbank.ie/news-media/press-releases/charles-parsons-coin-launch-1Sep2017 |archive-date=25 October 2017 }}</ref>

The Irish Academy of Engineering awards The Parsons Medal, named after Charles Parsons, every year to an engineer who has made an exceptional contribution to the practice of engineering. Previous winners include Prof. Tony Fagan (2016), Dr. Edmond Harty (2017), Prof. Sir John McCanny (2018) and Michael McLaughlin (2019).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://iae.ie/news/parsons-medal-award-2019/|title=Parsons Medal Award 2020 – iae|last=McCarron|first=Fiona|language=en-US|access-date=27 April 2020}}</ref>

== Selected works ==

* [http://www.houseofdavid.ca/parsons.htm E-book: "The Steam Turbine and Other Inventions of Sir Charles Parsons"]
* [[s:The Steam Turbine|The Steam Turbine]] (Rede Lecture, 1911)
* Charles Parsons's grand-nephew, Michael Parsons, in his 1968 Trinity Monday Discourse{{clarification needed|date=June 2025}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last=Scaife|first=W.G.S |title=From Galaxies to Turbines: Science, Technology and the Parsons Family|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BeMjgxsifcQC|year=1999|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-4200-4692-2}}
* {{cite ODNB|first=Claude |last=Gibb|id=35396|title=Parsons, Sir Charles Algernon (1854–1931)}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==

{{commons category|Charles Algernon Parsons}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* {{Cite web  |url=http://www.btinternet.com/~philipr/Parsons.htm  |title=Parsons and Turbinia  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010140643/http://www.btinternet.com/~philipr/Parsons.htm  |archive-date=10 October 2012}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070314213318/http://www.newcomen.com/excerpts/turbinia/index.htm Sir Charles Parsons Symposium, excerpts from Transactions of the  Newcomen Society]
* {{cite TIWW |article=Parsons, The Hon. Sir Charles Algernon|page=201 }}
* {{cite web |title=Charles Parsons |url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp37610/charles-algernon-parsons |website=Science Museum}}

{{Copley Medallists 1901-1950}}
{{Electricity generation in North East England}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Charles Algernon}}
[[Category:1854 births]]
[[Category:1931 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Anglo-Irish people]]
[[Category:20th-century Anglo-Irish people]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:Bessemer Gold Medal]]
[[Category:English engineers]]
[[Category:English knights]]
[[Category:English inventors]]
[[Category:British steam engine engineers]]
[[Category:British inventors]]
[[Category:Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Irish engineers]]
[[Category:Irish knights]]
[[Category:Irish inventors]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Marine engine manufacturers]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Merit]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:People associated with electricity]]
[[Category:People from County Offaly]]
[[Category:Engineers from Tyne and Wear]]
[[Category:Presidents of the British Science Association]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Institute of Physics]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:Steam turbines]]
[[Category:Turbines]]
[[Category:Younger sons of earls]]
[[Category:Women's Engineering Society]]
[[Category:Recipients of Franklin Medal]]