Person
Threlfall, Richard (1861 - 1932)
FRS GBE
- Born
- 14 August 1861
Hollowforth, Lancashire, England - Died
- 10 July 1932
Birmingham, Warwickshire, England - Occupation
- Physicist and Chemical engineer
Summary
Richard Threlfall founded the School of Physics at the University of Sydney, having been appointed Professor of Physics in 1886. The building and equipping of a laboratory was completed in 1888. He continued his research in parallel with teaching, focussing on explosives and explosions, the electrical properties of dielectric materials, and the invention quartz thread torsion balance which enabled highly accuracy measurement of gravity in different locations. Threlfall was active in scientific organisations, holding officer as President of the Royal Society of New South Wales and of Section A of Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. Having resigned his position in 1899 Threlfall returned to the United Kingdom, becoming scientific advisor to Albright & Wilson Co., Birmingham, England until 1932. During WWI his research related to smokescreens, munitions and chemical warfare.
Details
Chronology
- 1881 - 1882
- Education - Studies (PhD?) at the University of Strasbourg, Austria
- 1884
- Education - Bachelor of Art (BA), University of Cambridge, UK
- 1884 - 1886
- Career position - Demonstrator in the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
- 1886 - 1898
- Career position - Professor of Physics, University of Sydney
- 1888
- Career event - Original [founding] member, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
- 1888
- Education - Master of Art (MA), University of Cambridge
- 1890
- Career position - President, Section A (Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics), Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science
- 1894 - 1895
- Career position - President, Royal Society of New South Wales
- 1895 - 1899
- Career position - Vice-President (jointly), Royal Society of New South Wales
- 1898 - 1932
- Career position - Scientific Adviser at Albright & Wilson Co.in Birmingham, UK
- 1899 - 1932
- Award - Fellow, The Royal Society, London (FRS)
- 1914 - 1918
- Career position - Board Member of Invention and Research, UK
- 1917
- Award - Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), Britain
- 1927
- Award - Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE), Britain
- 1929
- Award - Gold medal, Society of Chemical Industry
Related entries
Colleague
Archival resources
University of Sydney, Archives
- Richard Threlfall - Records, 1885 - 1962, P 28; University of Sydney, Archives. Details
Published resources
Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions
- Exhibition Papers, A Bright Sparcs Exhibition, Australian Science Archives Project, 1997, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/papers/exhib_papers.htm. Details
- 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
Books
- Threlfall, Richard, On Laboratory Arts (London: Macmillan, 1898), (xii) + 338 + 2 pp. ads. pp. Details
Book Sections
- Home, R. W., 'Threlfall, Sir Richard (1861-1932), physicist and chemical engineer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 220-221. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120243b.htm. Details
- Home, R. W., 'Sir Richard Threlfall, 1861-1932' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details
Journal Articles
- Browne, W. R., 'Presidential address', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 67 (1934), 1-95. Details
- Home, R. W., 'First Physicist of Australia: Richard Threfall at the University of Sydney, 1886-1898', Historical Records of Australian Science, 6 (3) (1986), 333-358. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9860630333. Details
- T., J. J.; and H., W. B., 'Sir Richard Threlfall 1861 - 1932', Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1 (1932), 45-53. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.1932.0010. Details
- Threlfall, R., 'Some experiments on the production of ozone', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 40 (1886), 340-342. Details
- Threlfall, R., 'Notes on the Theory of Dissociation of Gases', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 20 (1886), 213-217. Details
- Threlfall, R., 'On an effect produced by the passage of an electric discharge through pure nitrogen', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 40 (1886), 329-340. Details
- Threlfall, R., 'On the Purification of Certain Substances', Report of the second meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 2 (1890), 395, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14563373. Details
- Threlfall, R., 'Note on Some Products from the Fruit of Pittosporum undulatum and from the Leaves of the Pepper Tree (Schinus molle)', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 29 (1895), 456-461. Details
- Threlfall, R. E., 'Sir Richard Threlfall G.B.E., F.R.S. (1861-1932): some personal memories', Notes and records of the Royal Society of London, 16 (2) (1961), 234-42. Details
- Threlfall, R.; and Allen, J. Bernard, 'Experiments on Some Electrical Properties of Purified Sulphur', Report of the seventh meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 7 (1898), 245-258, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15378203. Details
- Threlfall, Richard, 'On the Specific heats of the Vapours of Acetic acid and Nitrogen Tetroxide', The Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 23 (1887), 223-224. Details
- Threlfall, Richard, 'On the new Physical Laboratory at the University of Sydney', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 95-105, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813183. Details
- Threlfall, Richard, 'On the measurement of high resistances, and on galvanometers suitable for the purpose. [Abstract]', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 109-110, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813197. Details
- Threlfall, Richard, 'The Electrical Properties of Pure Substances. Part I. The Preparation of Pure Nitrogen and Attempts to Condense It', The Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 35 (1893), 1-35. Details
- Threlfall, Richard, 'A Contribution to the Study of Oxygen at Low Pressures', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, 31 (1897), 79-82. Details
- Threlfall, Richard and Brearley, Joseph Henry Drapier, 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances. No.1. The electrical properties of pure sulphur', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, 187 (1896), 57-150. Details
- Threlfall, Richard and Pollock, Arthur (sic, James Arthur), 'On Measurements of the Resistance of Imperfectly Purified Sulphur', The Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 28 (1889), 469-473. Details
- Threlfall, Richard; Brearley, Joseph Henry Drapier and Allen, J.B., 'Researches on the electrical properties of pure substances. No 1. The electrical properties of pure sulphur', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, 56 (1894), 32-40. Details
- Threlfall, Richard; Pollock, Arthur, 'On the Clark Cell as a source of small standard currents, and on a galvanometer for the Prince Alfred Hospital. [Abstract]', Report of the first meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 1 (1889), 110-112, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15813198. Details
Resources
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/118100507. Details
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q7329476. Details
- 'Threlfall, Richard (1861-1932)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1016602. Details
Resource Sections
- 'Threlfall, Richard', 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/P000831p.htm. Details
See also
- Bolton, H. C., 'Optical Instruments in Australia in the 1939-45 War: successes and lost opportunities', Australian Physicist (1990). http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/papers/bolton2.htm. Details
- Engineers Australia ed., Wonders never cease: 100 Australian engineering achievements (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2019), 236 pp. p.24. Details
- Rutledge, Martha, 'Leverrier, Francis Hewitt (Frank) (1863 - 1940), barrister,' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 80-81. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/leverrier-francis-hewitt-frank-7177. Details
- Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
Gavan McCarthy [P004098] and Helen Cohn
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 6 October 2023
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