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RUSSELL, JOHN SCOTT (1808–1882)

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 865 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RUSSELL, See also:JOHN See also:SCOTT (1808–1882) , See also:British engineer, was See also:born in 18o8 near See also:Glasgow, a " son of the See also:manse," and was at first destined for the See also:ministry. But this intention on his See also:father's See also:part was changed in consequence of the boy's See also:early leanings towards See also:practical See also:science. He attended in See also:succession the See also:universities of St See also:Andrews, See also:Edinburgh and Glasgow,—taking his degree in the last-named at the See also:age of sixteen. After spending a couple of years in workshops, he settled in Edinburgh as a lecturer on science, and soon attracted large classes. In 1832–33 he was engaged to give the natural See also:philosophy course at the university, the See also:chair having become vacant by the See also:death of See also:Sir John See also:Leslie. In the following See also:year he began his remarkable See also:series of observations on waves. Having been consulted as to the possibility of utilizing See also:steam-See also:navigation on the Edinburgh & Glasgow See also:canal, he replied that the question could not be answered without experiments, which he was willing to undertake if a portion of the canal were placed at his disposal. The results of this inquiry are to be found in the Trans. See also:Roy. See also:Soc. Ed. (vol. xiv.), and in the British Association Reports (seventh See also:meeting).

The existence of the See also:

long See also:wave, or wave of See also:translation, with many of its most important features, was here first recognized, and it was clearly pointed out why there is a See also:special See also:rate, depending on the See also:depth of the See also:water, at which a canal-See also:boat can be towed at the least See also:expenditure of effort by the See also:horse. The elementary mathematical theory of the long wave was soon supplied by commentators on Scott Russell's See also:work, and a more See also:complete investigation was subsequently given by Sir G. G. See also:Stokes. Russell indulged in many extraordinary and groundless speculations, some of which were published in a See also:posthumous See also:volume, The Wave of Translation (1885). His observations led him to propose and experiment on a new See also:system of shaping vessels, known as the wave system, which culminated in :the See also:building of the " See also:Great Eastern." His activity and ingenuity were also displayed in many other See also:fields,—steam-coaches for roads, improvements in boilers and in marine engines, the immense See also:iron See also:dome of the See also:Vienna See also:Exhibition, cellular See also:double bottoms for iron See also:ships, &c. With Mr See also:Stafford See also:Northcote (afterwards See also:Lord See also:Iddesleigh), he was See also:joint-secretary of the Great Exhibition of 1851; and he was one of the See also:chief founders of the Institution of See also:Naval Architects. He died at See also:Ventnor on the 8th of See also:June 1882.

End of Article: RUSSELL, JOHN SCOTT (1808–1882)

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