View source for Elihu Thomson

{{Short description|English-American engineer and inventor (1853–1937)}}
{{Lead too short|date=December 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| image             = Elihu thomson ca1880.png
| caption           = Thomson, {{circa|1880}}
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1853|3|29}}
| birth_place       = [[Manchester]], England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1937|3|13|1853|3|29}}
| death_place       = [[Swampscott, Massachusetts]], U.S.
| known_for         = Co-founding [[Thomson-Houston Electric Company]]
| spouse            = {{marriage|Mary Louise Peck|1884}}
| children          = 4
| awards            = {{ubl|[[Rumford Prize]] (1901)|[[IEEE Edison Medal|AIEE Edison Medal]] (1909)|[[Elliott Cresson Medal]] (1912)|[[Hughes Medal]] (1916)|[[John Fritz Medal]] (1916)|[[Kelvin Gold Medal]] (1923)|[[Franklin Medal]] (1925)|[[IET Faraday Medal|Faraday Medal]] (1927)}} 
| signature         = Elihu Thomson signature.jpg
}}
'''Elihu Thomson''' (March 29, 1853 – March 13, 1937) was an English-American [[engineer]] and inventor who was instrumental in the founding of major [[electricity|electrical]] companies in the [[United States]], the [[United Kingdom]] and [[France]].

==Early life==
He was born in [[Manchester]], [[England]], on March 29, 1853, but his family moved to [[Philadelphia]] in the [[United States]] in 1858.<ref name="nrhpinv2">{{Cite journal|url={{NHLS url|id=76002002}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Elihu Thomson House / Elihu Thomson Administration Building|date=1975-07-30 |format=PDF |author=James Sheire |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=2009-06-22}} and {{NHLS url|id=76002002|title=''Accompanying one photo, exterior, from 1975''|photos=y}}&nbsp;{{small|(301&nbsp;KB)}}</ref> Thomson attended [[Central High School (Philadelphia)|Central High School]] in Philadelphia and graduated in 1870.<ref>{{Citation |title=Man Born in 1853 Talks About Childhood in the 1860s: Filmed in 1932 - Restored Video and Audio |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oqbLSisnME |language=en |access-date=2022-03-28}}</ref> Thomson took a teaching position at Central, and in 1876, at the age of twenty-three, held the chair of Chemistry. In 1880, he left Central to pursue research in the emerging field of electrical engineering.<ref name="IEEEBIO">{{cite web|url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Elihu_Thomson|title=Elihu Thomson - Engineering and Technology History Wiki|website=www.ieeeghn.org|access-date=13 April 2018}}</ref>

==Electrical innovations==
With [[Edwin J. Houston]], a former teacher and later colleague of Thomson's at Central High School, Thomson founded the [[Thomson-Houston Electric Company]]. Notable inventions created by Thomson during this period include an arc-lighting system, an automatically regulated three-coil dynamo, a magnetic lightning arrester, and a local power transformer.<ref name="ElihuThomson">"Elihu Thomson Eightieth Birthday Celebration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology" (The Technology Press: 29 March 1933)</ref> In 1892 the Thomson-Houston Electric Company merged with the [[Thomas Edison|Edison]] General Electric Company to become the [[General Electric|General Electric Company]].<ref name="amphilsoc">Fitti, Charles J., [http://www.amphilsoc.org/bulletin/20011/elihu.pdf "Elihu Thomson"], ''APS Library Bulletin'', Winter 2001.</ref>

The historian [[Thomas P. Hughes (historian)|Thomas P. Hughes]] writes that Thomson "displayed methodological characteristics in the workshop and the laboratory as [an] inventor and in the business world as [an] entrepreneur. He also chose to solve problems in the rapidly expanding field of electric light and power."<ref name="HughesThomas">Hughes, Thomas "American Genesis" (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2004).</ref> Thomson's name is further commemorated by the [[British Thomson-Houston Company]] (BTH), and the French companies [[Thomson SA]] (now Technicolor SA) and [[Alstom]] (formerly Alsthom).

Thomson was notable both for his emphasis on models and for the singular focus with which he pursued his research, with Thomson referring to his workshop as a "model room" rather than a laboratory. Between 1880 and 1885, Thomson averaged twenty-one patent applications annually, doubling that average between 1885 and 1890.

Upon the merger of [[Thomson-Houston Electric Company]] (his namesake company) to form [[General Electric]] in 1892, Thomson chose to keep his laboratory at [[Lynn, Massachusetts]] near Boston away from GE's New York headquarters to ensure his control over his research.<ref name="HughesThomas" /> At the Lynn GE plant, he worked with [[Edwin Rice]] (later President of GE in 1913) and [[Sanford Moss]] and [[Charles Steinmetz]] (who was located at GE headquarters in [[Schenectady, New York]]). After being asked to become a director of GE, Thomson rejected the offer preferring continued research to management.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

==Patents==
Thomson held more than 700 patents. Thomson used his patents to bolster his company, Thomson-Houston Company, later  General Electric.

{{Refbegin|35em}}
* {{US patent|261790}} Electric-Arc Lamp
* {{US patent|283437}} Electric Lamp
* {{US patent|297200}} Electric-Arc Lamp
* {{US patent|302963}} Regulator For Dynamo-Electric Machines
* {{US patent|335159}} System Of Electric Distribution
* {{US patent|350956}} Automatic Compensator For Magnets
* {{US patent|367469}} System Of Electric Distribution
* {{US patent|360122}} System Of Electric Distribution
* {{US patent|403707}} Process Of Electric Soldering
* {{US patent|451345}} Method Of Electric Welding
* {{US patent|461144}} Electric-Arc Lamp
* {{US patent|461856}} Mode Of Making Tools
* {{US patent|478145}} Electric-Arc Lamp
* {{US patent|488585}} Electric-Arc Lamp
* {{US patent|500629}} Electric Switch
* {{US patent|508647}} Electric-Lighting System
* {{US patent|501114}} Lightning-Arrester
* {{US patent|502788}} Regulator For Electric Generators
* {{US patent|518291}} Mode Of Cooling Electric Motors
* {{US patent|735621}} Electrostatic Motor
* {{US patent|1078225}} Electrical Welding Of Sheet Metal
{{refend}}

==Awards and honors==
*1901: [[Rumford Prize]] of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
*1909: [[IEEE Edison Medal|AIEE Edison Medal]] of the [[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers|American Institute of Electrical Engineers]]
*1912: [[Elliott Cresson Medal]] of the [[Franklin Institute]]
*1916: [[Hughes Medal]] of the [[Royal Society]]
*1916: [[John Fritz Medal]] of the [[American Association of Engineering Societies]]
*1923: [[Kelvin Gold Medal]] of the [[Institute of Civil Engineers]]
*1925: [[Franklin Medal]] of the [[Franklin Institute]]
*1927: [[IET Faraday Medal|Faraday Medal]] of the [[Institution of Engineering and Technology]]

Thomson was the first recipient of the [[Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers|American Institute of Electrical Engineers]] (now Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) [[IEEE Edison Medal|Edison Medal]], bestowed upon him in 1909 "For meritorious achievement in electrical science, engineering and arts as exemplified in his contributions thereto during the past thirty years."; Thomson was also president of the organization from 1889–90.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Presidents_of_the_American_Institute_of_Electrical_Engineers_%28AIEE%29 |title=Presidents of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) |work=IEEE Global History Network |publisher=IEEE |access-date=8 August 2011}}</ref> Near the end of his life, Thomson's second wife Clarissa Hovey Thomson  is reported to have said that she had to carry a basket with her to carry all of Thomson's awards and honors.<ref name="amphilsoc">Fitti, Charles J., [http://www.amphilsoc.org/bulletin/20011/elihu.pdf "Elihu Thomson"], ''APS Library Bulletin'', Winter 2001.</ref>

He was elected as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1876.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1876&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-05-10|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

In 1889, he was decorated by the French Government for his electrical inventions, being made [[Legion of Honour|Chevalier et Officier de la Légion d'honneur]].<ref name="IEEEBIO"/> He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Yale (1890). Tufts College in 1892 gave him the degree of Ph.D., and in 1899 he received a D.Sc. from Harvard.<ref name="IEEEBIO"/>

== Personal life==
He married Mary Louise Peck (born: June 1, 1856 in [[New Britain, Connecticut|New Britain]], [[Hartford County, Connecticut]]) on May 1, 1884.

'''Children'''
*Stuart Thomson b: August 13, 1886
*Roland Davis Thomson b: June 17, 1888
*Malcolm Thomson b.: August 30, 1891
*Donald Thurston Thomson b.: April 10, 1893<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=wcgenlady&id=I2464|title=Camp Family Database|website=Wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com|access-date=21 February 2019}}</ref>

His second wife was Clarissa Hovey Thomson.<ref name="amphilsoc" />

==Later life==
He was a founding member, as well as the second president, of the [[International Electrotechnical Commission]].

He served as acting president of [[MIT]] from 1920–1923.<ref name=ElihuThomsonPapers>[http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/search?text=thomson&text-join=&text-exclude=&text-prox=&title=&creator=&identifier=&subject=&year=&year-max=&smode=advanced Elihu Thomson Papers], American Philosophical Society</ref> Thomson, overcoming his distaste for management, accepted this role during a critical period for the university when it could not otherwise find a president.<ref name="ElihuThomson">"Elihu Thomson Eightieth Birthday Celebration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology" (The Technology Press: 29 March 1933)</ref>

On June 21, 1932, at age 79, Thomson was interviewed on film talking about his life and times.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oqbLSisnME|title=Man Born in 1853 Talks About Childhood in the 1860s: Filmed in 1932 - Restored Video and Audio|publisher=Life in the 1800s|date=March 19, 2022|accessdate=July 13, 2022}}</ref>

Thomson died at his estate in [[Swampscott, Massachusetts]]. The [[Elihu Thomson House]] in Swampscott was designated a U.S. [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1976 and serves as Swampscott's [[town hall]].

==See also==
*[[Electricity meter]]
*[[Electromagnetic propulsion]]
*[[Electronic oscillator]]
*[[Negative resistance]]
*[[Repulsion motor]]
*[[Shaded-pole motor]]
*[[Tesla coil]]
*[[Three-phase electric power]]
*[[Welding]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin}}
*Carlson, W. Bernard.  ''Innovation as a Social Process: Elihu Thomson and the Rise of General Electric, 1870-1900'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
*Haney, John L.  ''The Elihu Thomson Collection'' American Philosophical Society Yearbook 1944.
*Hughes, Thomas "American Genesis" (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2004).
*Thomson, Elihu. [https://books.google.com/books?id=IC4LAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA75&dq=Elihu+Thomson&lr= Address by Elihu Thomson on Physics] in the ''Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science'' 48th Meeting August, 1899.
*Woodbury, David O.  ''Elihu Thomson, Beloved Scientist'' (Boston: Museum of Science, 1944)
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons category|Elihu Thomson}}
* {{Wikisource author-inline}}
* [http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docId=ead/Mss.Ms.Coll.74-ead.xml Elihu Thomson Papers]
*[https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL1968049A Elihu Thomson] in [https://openlibrary.org Open Library]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oqbLSisnME Elihu Thomson recounts his childhood] (June 21, 1932) - Youtube video

{{General Electric}}
{{IEEE Edison Medal Laureates 1909-1925}}
{{Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers}}
{{John Fritz Medal|state=collapsed}}
{{MIT presidents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Elihu}}
[[Category:1853 births]]
[[Category:1937 deaths]]
[[Category:American electrical engineers]]
[[Category:19th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:20th-century American inventors]]
[[Category:American inventors]]
[[Category:English emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Central High School (Philadelphia) alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:IEEE Edison Medal recipients]]
[[Category:John Fritz Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Engineers from Manchester]]
[[Category:Scientists from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:People from Swampscott, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]
[[Category:Technicolor SA]]
[[Category:Engineers from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Recipients of Franklin Medal]]
[[Category:Burials at Pine Grove Cemetery (Lynn, Massachusetts)]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]