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William Sturgeon




Sturgeon was born in Whittington, Lancashire and apprenticed to a shoemaker. He joined the army in 1802 and taught himself Mathematics and Physics . In 1824 he became lecturer in science at the East India Company College at Addiscombe , Surrey and in the following year he exhibited his first electromagnet.Gee (2004) He displayed its power by lifting nine pounds with a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wire through which a current from a single battery was sent. In 1828 he put into practice Ampere 's idea of a Solenoid .

In 1832 he was appointed to the lecturing staff of the Adelaide Gallery of Practical Science in London , where he first demonstrated the DC electric motor incorporating a commutator. In 1836 he established the journal ''Annals of Electricity'', and in the same year he invented a Galvanometer .

Sturgeon was a close associate of '', Oxford University Press, accessed 5 Aug 2007 (subscription required)

In 1840 he became superintendent of the Royal Victoria Gallery Of Practical Science in Manchester . He formed a close social circle with John Davies , one of the Gallery's promoters, and Davies' student James Prescott Joule , a circle that eventuall extended to include Edward William Binney and John Leigh .Kargon (1977) ''pp''38-40 The Gallery closed in 1842, and he earned a living by lecturing and demonstrating. He died in Prestwich in 1850.


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