British engineer
Eaton Hodgkinson
|
---|
Born
| (
1789-02-26
)
26 February 1789
|
---|
Died
| 18 June 1861
(1861-06-18)
(aged 72)
|
---|
Nationality
| English
|
---|
Occupation
| Engineer
|
---|
Eaton Hodgkinson
FRS
(26 February 1789 ? 18 June 1861) was an
English
engineer
, a pioneer of the application of
mathematics
to problems of structural design.
Early life
[
edit
]
Hodgkinson was born in the village of
Anderton
, near
Northwich
,
Cheshire
, to a
farming
family. His father died when he was six years old, and he was raised with his two sisters by his mother, who maintained the farming business. She sent her son to
Witton Grammar School
in
Northwich
where he studied the
classics
with the intention that he would fulfill the family's ambition that he prepare for a career in the
Church of England
. Unfortunately, the regime was unsuited to his tastes and talents which were already showing promise in mathematics. His mother moved him to a less prestigious private school in Northwich where his enthusiasm for mathematics was encouraged and fostered but, as the young Hodgkinson grew physically, he became indispensable on the family farm and soon left education to devote himself there.
However, farming was no more to his taste than
Greek
and
Latin
and his mother yearned to satisfy her son's appetites. Family friends advised that Hodgkinson might find some more suitable outlet in nearby
Manchester
and so, in 1811, the family left for
Salford
to open a
pawnbroking
business. Hodgkinson used all his spare time in reading
science
and mathematics and soon introduced himself into Manchester's scientific community, meeting, among others, his future collaborator, Sir
William Fairbairn
. He became a pupil of
John Dalton
, studying mathematics, and the two remained firm friends until Dalton's death in 1844. He retired early from the family business to devote a modest pension to his scientific work.
He married twice, to Catherine Johns and to a Miss Holditch. There were no children.
Scientific work
[
edit
]
Hodgkinson measured the strength of columns of materials including cast iron and marble in a series of experiments.
[1]
Hodgkinson worked with Sir
William Fairbairn
in
Manchester
on the design of
iron
beams
, especially on the Water Street bridge for the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway
in 1828?30. His improved
cross section
was published by the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
in 1830 and influenced much nineteenth century
structural engineering
. He derived the empirical formula for a concentrated load,
W
(in
tons
), at which a beam will fail as a function of its length between simple supports,
L
(in inches); its depth,
d
(in inches); and its bottom-flange
area
,
A
(inch²):
His expertise with beams led to his retention, along with Fairbairn, as consultant on the novel
tubular
design for the
Britannia Bridge
. Fairbairn built and tested several prototypes, and developed the final form adopted for the bridge. Both Hodgkinson and
Robert Stephenson
believed that extra chains would be needed to support the heavy spans, so the towers were built with spaces for the chains. Fairbairn, however, insisted that chains would not be necessary, and his opinion prevailed. He was right, and chains were never used, but the towers remain with their empty recesses.
Later years
[
edit
]
Hodgkinson was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society
in 1841 and, in 1847, he became professor of the mechanical principles of engineering at
University College London
. In 1849, he was appointed by the
UK Parliament
to participate in a
Royal Commission
to investigate the application of iron in
railroad
structures, performing some early investigations of
metal fatigue
.
Towards the end of his life, his mental faculties failed and he died at
Higher Broughton
,
Salford
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Henry Moseley
.
Illustrations of Mechanics
. Longman, Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans, Paternoster-Row. 1839. Page 403.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Enquire into the Application of Iron to Railway Structures
(1849) cmd. 1123, HMSO
- Petroski, H.
(1994)
Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgement in Engineering
ISBN
0-521-46108-1
- Rawson, R (1865) "Memoir of Eaton Hodgkinson",
Transactions of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
, vol II, reprinted in
Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution
(1868), pp203?230
- Timoshenko, S. P. (1953)
History of Strength of Materials
, pp126?129
|
---|
Presidents
| 18th Century
| |
---|
19th Century
| |
---|
20th Century
| |
---|
21st Century
|
- Iain E. Gillespie
- Angus G. D. Yeaman
- Keith D. Buckley
- Vivienne Blackburn
- Mary, Lady Mallick
- David J. Higginson
- Prof. Kenneth M. Letherman
- Prof. Sir Netar P. Mallick
(II)
- Dr Diana M. Leitch
- Dr Susan R. Hilton
- Ian Cameron
|
---|
|
---|
Awards
| |
---|
Lectures
| |
---|
Publications
| |
---|
|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|