Person
Brown, Edward Byam (1880 - 1966)
- Born
- 31 July 1880
Strathdownie, Victoria, Australia - Died
- 16 May 1966
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Physicist and Electrical engineer
Summary
Edward Brown was associate professor in electrical engineering, University of Melbourne 1930-1946. He was the husband of Vera Scantlebury Brown.
Details
He volunteered as an Australian Munitions Worker to the UK during WW1 and worked in England as an electrical draftsman during 1917. (It looks like he struggled to find positions suited to his skills). He returned to Australia at the end of 1917. [Courtesy of Mark Rogers 2024]
Chronology
- 1898 - 1902
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc), University of Melbourne (Ormond College)
- 1905
- Education - ACGI City & Guilds College, London, UK
- 1905 - 1907
- Career position - General Electric Company, Schenectady, New York, USA
- 1908 - 1911
- Career position - Lecturer in mathematics and physics, University of Melbourne
- 1910
- Career event - Member, Victorian Section, Electrical Association of Australia
- 1911
- Education - Master of Science (MSc), University of Melbourne
- 1911 - 1929
- Career position - Lecturer in electrical engineering, University of Melbourne
- 1914 - 1916
- Career position - Council Member, Victorian Section, Electrical Association of Australia
- 1916 - 1918
- Military service - First World War. Volunteered as an Australian Munition Worker, in England
- 1919
- Career event - Foundation Associate Member (AMIEAust), Institution of Engineers Australia
- 1919
- Career position - Council Member, Victorian Section, Electrical Association of Australia
- 1926
- Education - Doctor of Science (DSc), University of Melbourne
- 18 Sep 1926
- Life event - Married Vera Scantlebury, daughter of Dr G. J. Scantlebury
- 1930 - 1946
- Career position - Associate Professor in electrical engineering, University of Melbourne
- 1946
- Life event - Retired
- 1961
- Award - Doctor of Engineering (DEng), honoris causa, University of Melbourne
- 1966
- Buried - Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery
Related entries
Colleague
Wife
Published resources
Edited Books
- Alexander, Joseph A. ed., Who's who in Australia 1950 (Melbourne: Colorgravure Publications, 1950). Brown, Edward Byam, DSc Melb. ACGI Lond AMIEAust. Page 119. Details
- Gibbney, H. J.; and Smith, Ann G. eds, A Biographical register 1788-1939 : notes from the name index of the Australian Dictionary of biography. Volume 1: A-K (Canberra: Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1987), 403 pp, https://history.cass.anu.edu.au/files/docs/2026/8/A-Biographical-Register-1788-1939-Vol-1-A-K.pdf. p.88. Details
Journal Articles
- Brown, E. B., 'Electric tachometers and speedometers', Commonwealth Engineer, 1 (4) (1913), 134-137. Details
- Brown, E. B., 'Measurement of magnetic flux', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of Australia, Victorian Section, I (1914-15), 18-23. Details
- Brown, E. B., 'An electrical paradox', Proceedings of the Electrical Association of Australia, Victorian Section, IV (1919), 48-56. Details
- Brown, E. B., 'A method of determining the number of turns in a coil', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1 (1920), 218-220, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.632802579104740. Details
- Brown, E. B., 'Some uses of the resonance of stretched wires in electrical instruments', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1 (1920), 214-217, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.632765313162224. Details
- Brown, E. B., 'The quadrature tachometer', Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, 84 (508) (1939), 499-502, https://doi.org/10.1049/jiee-1.1939.0078. Details
- Brown, E. B., 'A volt-ampere-phase angle meter - the Vaphmeter', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 35 (1-2) (1963), 25-27. Details
- Brown, Edward Byam, 'The calibration of wavemeters by means of a tuning-fork controlled valve oscillator', Transactions of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 6 (1925), 176-193, https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.863633512775795. Details
- Brown, Edward Byam, 'The quadrature and quadraflux tachometers', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 11 (12) (1939), 417-419. Details
- Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, '150 Years, 150 Stories: Edward Byam Brown', Uni News, 12 (16) (2003), 4. Details
- Gillespie, Richard, 'Current history: the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Collection', University of Melbourne collections, 24 (2019), 22-30. Details
Resources
- 'Brown, Edward Byam (1880-1966)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1474096. Details
- 'Awarded honorary DEng, 1961', Honorary degree holders, University of Melbourne, 2023, https://about.unimelb.edu.au/notable-alumni-staff/honorary-degree-holders. Details
Resource Sections
- 'Brown, Edward Byam - 2448: Summary of particulars requried for Personal File 1916-1918', in Munition Workers and Navvies Despatched to Great Britain, National Archives of Australia, Canberra, ACT, 1918. https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6448127. Item ID 6448127. Details
- 'Brown, Edward Byam', 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/P001611p.htm. Details
See also
- Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, 150 years, 150 stories: brief biographies of one hundred and fifty remarkable people associated with the University of Melbourne (Melbourne: Department of History, University of Melbourne, 2003), 168 pp. Details
Gavan McCarthy; Ken McInnes
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 20 August 2026
- Foundation Supporter - Committee to Review Australian Studies in Tertiary Education