Thomas Eckersley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Thomas Eckersley
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Eckersley from the National Portrait Gallery, London
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Thomas Lydwell Eckersley
27 December 1886 4 Marlborough Place Marylebone
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| Died | 15 February 1959 (aged 72) Manor House, Danbury, Essex
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| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Work on the ionosphere and radio propagation |
| Spouse(s) | Eva Amelia Pain |
| Children | 3 |
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| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | NPL Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company Ltd |
Thomas Lydwell Eckersley FRS (December 27, 1886 – February 15, 1959) was a brilliant English theoretical physicist and engineer. He is famous for his important work on how radio waves travel. He also studied the ionosphere, which is a part of Earth's upper atmosphere. His discoveries helped make radio communication and radar much better.
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About Thomas Eckersley
Thomas Eckersley was born in St John's Wood, London. He was the second of three sons. His father, William Alfred, was a civil engineer. His mother, Rachel, was the fifth child of a famous scientist named Thomas Henry Huxley.
Early Life and Education
Thomas spent his first few years in Mexico. When he was 11, he started attending Bedales School. There, he became very interested in mathematics. At 15, he went to University College London to study engineering. He found that engineering wasn't quite right for him.
After getting his degree, he joined the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). At the NPL, he studied how iron behaves when it's near changing magnetic fields.
In 1910, he left the NPL to study mathematics at Cambridge. He earned his BA degree in 1912. After a short time at the Cavendish Laboratory, he worked for the Egyptian Government Survey.
His Amazing Work
When World War I began, Thomas Eckersley joined the Royal Engineers. He worked on problems related to wireless telegraphy, which is an early form of radio. This work made him very interested in how radio waves travel. This interest stayed with him for the rest of his life.
In 1919, he joined Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company Ltd. He worked there as a theoretical research engineer until he retired in 1946. One of his key projects involved analyzing findings from a team sent to Australia. This team studied how long radio waves travel. Their results were published in a very important paper.
During World War II, in 1940, Eckersley joined the Air Ministry for secret work. In 1942, he became the Chief Scientific Adviser for the Interservice Ionosphere Bureau. This bureau was set up at the Marconi Research and Development Laboratories. His contributions to radar technology were very important. They especially helped improve how radar detected submarines.
Awards and Recognition
Thomas Eckersley was recognized for his brilliant work. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1938. This is a very high honor for scientists in the United Kingdom. In 1951, he received the Faraday Medal from the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
Family Life
Thomas Lydwell Eckersley married Eva Amelia Pain on April 14, 1920. Eva was the daughter of an author named Barry Pain. Thomas and Eva had three children: Noel, Sylvia, and Shirley.
After he retired, Thomas Eckersley became ill. He passed away on February 15, 1959, due to pneumonia.
