Sutherland, William (1859 - 1911)

Summary

William Sutherland was a writer for The Age newspaper in Melbourne and a private researcher who investigated the viscosity of gases and liquids, molecular attraction, valency, ionization, ionic velocities, atomic sizes and an electronic theory of matter. He wrote an article on Eucalyptus Oil in 1887.

Details

William Sutherland was educated at The University of Melbourne (BA 1979, MA 1883) and University College London (BSc 1881). He worked as a private coach, examiner, and acting lecturer in natural philosophy (1888) then acting professor (1889) at The University of Melbourne.
At The University of Melbourne Sutherland undertook theoretical investigations, chiefly in the field of molecular dynamics; the results were published as 78 scientific papers, mostly in major international journals. His model, the Sutherland model, assumed that the particles of which matter is composed exert an attractive force on each other (now known as the 'Sutherland potential') in addition to gravity. He also studied the dependence of the viscosity of a gas on its temperature, developing a formula which included a constant for any particular gas that is now called Sutherland's Constant. In addition to his theoretical work William Sutherland was also a regular contributor to The Age from 1901, especially on scientific topics.

Chronology

1874

Education - Bachelor of Arts (BA), University of Melbourne

1881

Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University College, London

1883

Education - Master of Arts (MA), University of Melbourne

1888

Career event - Original [founding] member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

Related entries

Archival resources

Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science

• William Sutherland - Records, 1877 - 1910, MS 023; Adolph Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science. Details

National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection

• William Sutherland - Records, 1901 - 1911, MS 2967; National Library of Australia Manuscript Collection. Details

State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection

• William Sutherland - Records, 1903 - 1909, Box 819; State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details
• Smith, Ailie, Adolph Basser Library Manuscript Collection, eScholarship Research Centre, 2012, http://www.eoas.info/basser_browse.html. Details

Books

• Osborne, W. A., William Sutherland: a Biography (Melbourne: Lothian, 1920). Details

Book Sections

• Home, R. W., 'Sutherland, William (1859-1911), theoretical physicist and physical chemist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 141-152. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120159b.htm. Details

Journal Articles

• Bolton, H. C.; Coller, B.A.W., 'Two Letters of William Sutherland to T. Brailsford Robertson: Ideas on the Electrical Conductivity of Proteins', Historical Records of Australian Science, 9 (4) (1993), 357-368. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9930940357. Details
• Bolton, H. C.; Rae, Ian D., 'A Response to Intellectual Isolation: the Correspondence of W. A. Osborne and William Sutherland, 1905-1911', Historical Records of Australian Science, 10 (4) (1995), 323-335. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9951040323. Details
• Home, R. W., 'Speculating About Atoms in Early 20th Century Melbourne: William Sutherland and the "Sutherland-Einstein" Diffusion Relation', Australian Physics, 42 (2) (2005), 53-60, https://aip.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Australian%20Physics/Aust%20Phys%2042-2.pdf. Details
• Home, R. W., 'William Sutherland and the "Sutherland-Einstein" Diffusion Relation: Theoretical Physics in a Colonial Setting', Historia Scientiarum, 15 (2005), 125-138. Details
• Spurling, T. H., 'William Sutherland - Australia's First Physical Chemist', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, 41 (12) (1974), 313-314. Details
• Sutherland, W., 'The law of attraction amongst the molecules of a gas', Philosophical Magazine - full title: The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science (1886), 81-95. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Mechanical integration of the product of two functions', Philosophical Magazine (1885), 175-178. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Mechanical integration of the product of two functions', Philosophical Magazine (1886), 141-143. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'The Law of Attraction Amongst the Molecules of a Gas', Philosophical Magazine (S5), 22 (1886), 81-95. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Eucalyptus Oil', The Chemist and Druggist of Australasia, 2 (1887), 21-23, 46-48, 77-78. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'On the Law of Molecular Force', Philosophical Magazine (S5), 24 (1887), 113-134, 168-187. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'On the Recalculation of Certain Specific Heats at High Temperatures, and the Specific Heat of Water', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 26 (1888), 298-305. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'On the Law of Molecular Force', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 39-42, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813127. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'On the Law of Molecular Force', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 27 (1889), 305-321. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Molecular Refraction', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 27 (1889), 141-155. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Molecular Refraction', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 42-45, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813130. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Further Investigations on the Laws of Molecular Force', Report of the second meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 2 (1890), 368-371, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14563346. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'A New Periodic Property of the Elements', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 30 (1890), 318-323. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'A Kinetic Theory of Solids, with an Experimental Introduction', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 32 (1891), 31-43, 215-225, 524-553. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'The Viscosity of Gases and Molecular Force', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 36 (1893), 507-531. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'The Laws of Molecular Force', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 35 (1893), 211-295. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Some Corrections to a Paper on the Laws of Molecular Force', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 36 (1893), 150-151. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'The Attraction of Unlike Molecules. II. The Surface Tension of Mixed Liquids', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 38 (1894), 188-197. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'The Attraction of Unlike Molecules. I. The Diffusion of Gases', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 38 (1894), 1-19. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'The Viscosity of Mixed Gases', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 40 (1895), 421-431. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Further Studies on Molecular Force', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 39 (1895), 1-46. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'The Fundamental Atomic Laws of Thermochemistry', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 40 (1895), 1-56. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Molecular Force and the Surface Tension of Solutions', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 40 (1895), 477-494. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Bemerkungen uber die Thermodynamische Theorie der Kapillaritat von van der Waals', Zeitschrift fur Physikalische Chemie, 17 (1895), 536-538. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Thermal transpiration and radiometer motion', Philosophical Magazine (1896), 373-391, 52-55. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'High Tensions in Moving Liquids', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 42 (1896), 111-115. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'The Causes of Osmotic Pressure and of the Simplicity of the Laws of Dilute Solutions', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 44 (1897), 493-498. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Two new pressure-gauges for the highest vacua', Philosophical Magazine (1897), 83-99. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'The Spontaneous Change of Oxygen into Ozone and a Remarkable Type of Dissociation', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 43 (1897), 201-214. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Boyle's Law at Very Low Pressures', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 43 (1897), 11-19. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Latent Heat of Evaporation of Zinc and Cadmium', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 46 (1898), 345-346. Details
• Sutherland, William, 'Cathode, Lenard, and Rontgen Rays', Philosophical Magazine (S.5), 47 (1899), 269-284. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2580687. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/57398535. Details
• 'Sutherland, William (1859-1911)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1467146. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Sutherland, William - Ms 23', in Listing of Adolph Basser Library holdings, Australian Academy of Science, 1994, http://www.science.org.au/basser/manuscript-collection/ms023.html. Details
• 'Sutherland, William', in Physics in Australia to 1945, R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham, Australian Science Archives Project, June 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/physics/P000814p.htm. Details

See also

• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details