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From theory to engineering practice: shared telecommunications knowledge between Oliver Heaviside and his brother and GPO engineer Arthur West Heaviside

The Royal Society
Philosophical Transactions A
Authors:
Elizabeth Bruton at University College Dublin
Elizabeth Bruton
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Abstract

In May 1900, renowned General Post Office (GPO) engineer Arthur West Heaviside gave the Inaugural Address of the Institution of Electrical Engineers Newcastle local section. With a career spanning the pre-Telegraph Act private telegraph networks as well as the subsequent GPO management and licensing of British inland telecommunications, Arthur Heaviside outlined his innovative and experimental work with all three forms of telecommunication in his various GPO engineering roles based in Newcastle. Omitted from the address was the contribution made by Arthur's younger brother, Oliver Heaviside. Throughout Arthur's career at the GPO, the two brothers exchanged frequent correspondence-some of which has survived in the IET Archives-and Arthur regularly consulted his brother about his experimental work and published papers, incorporating his brother's ideas, suggestions and corrections. The two brothers informally collaborated and published separately upon two key areas of experimentation: duplex telegraphy and the 'bridge system' of telephony. The separate publication of the brothers' work in telecommunications was notable: senior and influential GPO electrical engineer William Preece strongly resisted the theoretical work of Oliver Heaviside and other so-called Maxwellians. It was not until the 'Kennelly-Heaviside layer', independently proposed by Oliver Heaviside and American electrical engineer Arthur Kennelly in 1902, was experimentally demonstrated in the 1920s that the GPO began to formally engage with the work of Oliver Heaviside. This paper will explore the difficult and complex relationship between Preece and the two Heaviside brothers and how these personal relationships reflect the wider reception of Maxwellian ideas and theorists in British electrical engineering as well as the engineering practice of the GPO, a state institution that could be both innovative and resistant to change in equal measure.This article is part of the theme issue 'Celebrating 125 years of Oliver Heaviside's 'Electromagnetic Theory''.
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Research
Cite this article: Bruton E. 2018 From theory
to engineering practice: shared
telecommunications knowledge between
Oliver Heaviside and his brother and GPO
engineer Arthur West Heaviside. Phil.Trans.R.
Soc. A 376: 20170454.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2017.0454
Accepted: 6 August 2018
One contribution of 13 to a theme issue
‘Celebrating 125 years of Oliver Heaviside’s
‘Electromagnetic Theory’’.
Subject Areas:
electrical engineering
Keywords:
telecommunications, history, Oliver Heaviside,
electrical engineering
Author for correspondence:
Elizabeth Bruton
e-mail: elizabeth.bruton@gmail.com
From theory to engineering
practice: shared
telecommunications
knowledge between Oliver
Heaviside and his brother and
GPO engineer Arthur West
Heaviside
Elizabeth Bruton
Curator of Technology and Engineering, Science Museum,
London, UK
EB, 0000-0002-6981-5705
In May 1900, renowned General Post Office (GPO)
engineer Arthur West Heaviside gave the Inaugural
Address of the Institution of Electrical Engineers
Newcastle local section. With a career spanning the
pre-Telegraph Act private telegraph networks as well
as the subsequent GPO management and licensing of
British inland telecommunications, Arthur Heaviside
outlined his innovative and experimental work
with all three forms of telecommunication in his
various GPO engineering roles based in Newcastle.
Omitted from the address was the contribution
made by Arthur’s younger brother, Oliver Heaviside.
Throughout Arthur’s career at the GPO, the two
brothers exchanged frequent correspondence—some
of which has survived in the IET Archives—and
Arthur regularly consulted his brother about
his experimental work and published papers,
incorporating his brother’s ideas, suggestions and
corrections. The two brothers informally collaborated
and published separately upon two key areas of
experimentation: duplex telegraphy and the ‘bridge
system’ of telephony. The separate publication of the
brothers’ work in telecommunications was notable:
senior and influential GPO electrical engineer William
Preece strongly resisted the theoretical work of Oliver
Heaviside and other so-called Maxwellians. It was not
until the ‘Kennelly–Heaviside layer’, independently
2018 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. Allrights reser ved.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
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