Article ID: CBB696854016

“A many-sided crystal”: Understanding the manifold legacy of Silvanus Phillips Thompson (1851–1916) (2021)

unapi

Was Silvanus Phillips Thompson primarily a physicist, electrical engineer, biographer, or teacher? His obituarists could not agree. I argue Thompson was in fact a polymathic generalist who, as a philanthropic Quaker, worked not to promote his own expertise but rather to ensure the public was swiftly informed of the most important techno-scientific research and applications of his contemporaries. I illustrate this in a comparison of Thompson and his longer-lived friend Oliver Lodge: working in closely-related areas, they had contrasting profiles and commitments. After inspecting Thompson's work as textbook author and bibliophile, I resolve his apparently paradoxical status as both radical critic and figurehead of multiple institutions. Finally, to flesh out his friends' representation of him as a “many-sided crystal,” I analyse Thompson's multi-facetted posthumous reputation, especially in reviews of the Life and Letters written by his widow Jane and daughter Helen exactly 100 years ago.

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Authors & Contributors
Gaya, Hannah
Jennifer C. Mori
Cardoso de Matos, Ana
Mills, R. J. W.
Stanley, Matthew
Stahnisch, Frank W.
Concepts
Teaching; pedagogy
Science and religion
Public understanding of science
Quakers and Quakerism
Science education and teaching
Engineers
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
18th century
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
Places
England
Great Britain
United States
France
Europe
Strasbourg (France)
Institutions
Reichsuniversität Strassburg
Royal Polytechnic Institution (London, England)
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