A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DGeorge Johnstone Stoney : 1826 - 1911
It was in a paper in The Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society, in 1891, that George Johnstone Stoney introduced the term "electron". George Johnstone Stoney was born at Oakley Park, Co. Offaly, and was one of a group of Irish scientists who made far-reaching contributions to the study of spectra, that is the light of various colours emitted or absorbed by different substances. Educated at Trinity College Dublin, he became Assistant at Lord Rosse's Observatory at Birr. Later he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy (physics) at Queen's College (now University College), Galway, and then, for 25 years, Secretary of the Queen's University in Dublin, the administrative headquarters of the Queen's Colleges. A practical man, as well as a theorist, Stoney invented a novel form of heliostat. This is a scientific instrument in which a clockwork mechanism controls the movement of a mirror so that, when sunlight is reflected from the mirror for use in scientific experiments, the ray of light stays still rather than moving as the earth revolves.
George Johnstone Stoney (1826-1911) was born in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. After four years at Parsonstown he was appointed professor in Queen's College Galway and later Secretary of the Queen's University in Dublin. He is best known for his estimation of the charge on the particle of electricity which he named 'the electron'. (1876) He also made valuable contributions to spectroscopy and the understanding of planetary atmospheres.
In 1874, George Johnstone Stoney estimates the charge of the then unknown electron to be about 10-20 coulomb, close to the modern value of 1.6021892 x 10-19 coulomb. (He used the Faraday constant (total electric charge per mole of univalent atoms) divided by Avogadro's Number. James Clerk Maxwell had recognized this method soon after Faraday had published, but he did not accept the idea that electricity is composed of particles.) Stoney also proposes the name "electrine" for the unit of charge on a hydrogen ion. In 1891, he changes the name to "electron."
At a meeting in Belfast in 1874, the Irish physicist George Johnstone Stoney (1826-1911) ['On the Physical Units of Nature', Philosophical Magazine, vol. 11, p. 381 (1881)] forwarded a proposal to some "natural" units for length, time and mass, independent of human existence. By suitable combinations of Newton's gravitation constant, the velocity of light and an electric unit for charge, which Stoney had himself proposed and calculated, he could construct a length, a time and a mass. Stoney found the following values: Length = 10-37 meter, time = 0.3 x 10-45 second and mass = 10-7 gram. It should be noted that the electron was only discovered in 1897 and that 'electron' was introduced by Stoney as the name of the smallest electrolytic unit of charge. Likewise is should be noted that Stoney's units are introduced purely ad hoc without connection to any theory.
From Alex B. M. Stoney, (B.E., F.I.E.Aust., M.I.Mech.E.)
Subject: George Johnstone Stoney, F.R.S.The obituaries (now four, gathered in November 1998) are from, as follows... 'The Observatory', No. 438, August 1911 'Proceedings of The Royal Society', Series A, Vol. 86, 1912 'The Daily Express', Thursday, July 6, 1911 'The Times', Thursday, July 6, 1911
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