Gordon Rawcliffe facts for kids
Gordon Hindle Rawcliffe was a smart British electrical engineer and university professor. He was born on June 2, 1910, and passed away on September 3, 1979. He is well-known for his important work on how electric motors work.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Gordon Hindle Rawcliffe was born on June 2, 1910. His father was a clergyman, a type of church leader, in Sheffield. When Gordon was two years old, his family moved to Gloucester.
He went to several schools, including King's School, Gloucester, Hereford Cathedral School, and St Edmund's School, Canterbury. After finishing school, he went to Keble College, Oxford University. He first studied mathematics there.
University Studies
After his first year at Oxford, Gordon decided to switch his studies to engineering. He learned from a famous engineer named Richard V. Southwell. Gordon worked hard and earned a top-level degree in engineering in 1932.
Career Journey
After university, Gordon Rawcliffe worked for five years at a company called Metropolitan-Vickers in Manchester. He started as an apprentice, learning the ropes, and then became a design engineer.
In 1937, he became more interested in the science behind engineering than just making things. So, he moved to the University of Liverpool to teach electrical engineering. Four years later, he moved again to the University of Aberdeen. There, he was in charge of electrical engineering and led the department at Robert Gordon's Technical College (which is now Robert Gordon University).
Professor at Bristol
In 1944, the University of Bristol asked him to become a Professor of Electrical Engineering. This was a very important job, and he stayed there for 31 years! He retired in 1975.
Gordon Rawcliffe passed away in Bristol on September 3, 1979. He had a heart attack, which was made worse by asthma that he had throughout his life.
Key Scientific Work
From 1955 onwards, Gordon Rawcliffe focused on improving AC electric motors. He worked on something called polyphase winding. This is a special way to arrange the wires inside a motor to make it run smoothly.
Pole Amplitude Modulation
His most famous invention was the principle of pole amplitude modulation. This clever idea allowed induction motors to run at different speeds. Before this, it was harder to change the speed of these powerful motors.
Gordon and his research team were very busy. They created many new ideas and filed over 60 patents for their inventions. They also wrote many scientific papers to share their discoveries with other engineers.
Awards and Honors
For his amazing work, Gordon Rawcliffe received many honors:
- In 1972, he was chosen as a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a very high honor for scientists in the United Kingdom.
- In 1976, he became an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, his old university.
- He also received special honorary degrees from Loughborough and the Bath.
