| Authorised form of name | Forbes; George (1849 - 1936); electrical engineer and inventor |
| Dates | 1849 - 1936 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | 3 Park Place, Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Date of birth | 05 April 1849 |
| Place of death | His home, 13 New Parade, Worthing, Sussex, England |
| Date of death | 22 October 1936 |
| Occupation | Electrical engineer and inventor |
| Research field | Engineering |
| Astronomy |
| Electricity |
| Activity | Education:
Edinburgh Academy, the University of St Andrews; Christ's College and St Catharine's College, MA.
Career:
Professor of Natural Philosophy, Andersons College, Glasgow (1872-1880); observed the Transit of Venus from Hawaii (1874); manager of the British Electric Light Company (1882); travelled from Peking to St Petersburg through the Gobi Desert and Siberia; visited South Africa (1895) and New Zealand (1896); involved in harnessing the Niagara for the production of power (1891-1895); worked with the Admiralty to develop a rangefinder (1903-1905)
Memberships:
FRSE; FRAS; Member of the Astronomische Gesellschaft, of the Electro-technical Society of Vienna; Member of the Society of Telegraphic Engineers; AICE
|
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 09/06/1887 |
| Age at election | 38 |
| Proposer | Frederick Guthrie |
| Shelford Bidwell |
| William Henry Preece |
| William Henry Mahoney Christie |
| William Grylls Adams |
| David Edward Hughes |
| Balfour Stewart |
| William Huggins |
| Edwin Dunkin |
| George Biddell Airy |
| John Couch Adams |
| Relationships | Parents: James David Forbes (1809–1868) (FRS 1832) , and Alicia Wauchope (d. 1885). |
| Published works | RCN 39504
RCN 444
RCN 22306
RCN 39505
RCN 39506
RCN 39503 |
| General context | Researched the velocity of light.
Supervising engineer for pioneering hydroelectric schemes.
First to postulate the existence of trans-Neptunian planets. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Image | 
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| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB (MP)
Obituaries:
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1936-1938 vol 2 pp 283-286, plate, by J A Fleming and D'Arcy W Thompson |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/30293118 |
| Royal Society code | NA7125 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1887/07 | Forbes; George: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/Maull/001490 | Forbes, George | 1893 |
| NLB/3/54 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 23 February 1889 |
| NLB/5/975 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society, 34 Great George Street, S.W. | 27 November 1891 |
| NLB/8/654 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 5 December 1893 |
| RR/15/190 | Referee's report by Charles Vernon Boys, on a paper 'Description of a range-finder' by George Forbes | 4 July 1901 |
| RR/16/179 | Referee's report by Alfred George Greenhill, on a paper 'Exterior ballistics. 'Error of the day' and other corrections to naval range-tables' by George Forbes | 22 December 1904 |
| NLB/15/187 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 12 July 1897 |
| NLB/35/49 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 10 April 1907 |
| NLB/23/1/387 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 5 November 1901 |
| NLB/25/40 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society, North Western Hotel, Liverpool | 29 July 1902 |
| NLB/24/535 | Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor [George] Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society | May 1902 |
| NLB/34/34 | Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society, George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society, Sydney John Hickson, Fellow of the Royal Society | 20 November 1906 |
| NLB/35/48 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to C W S Crawley, 89 Upper Richmond Road, Putney, S.W. | 10 April 1907 |
| NLB/36/705 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society, Uplands, Fareham, Hampshire | 4 December 1907 |
| NLB/36/770 | Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor George Forbes, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 12 December 1907 |
| NLB/48/353 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor [George] Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society, Kinnaird Cottage, Pitlochrie, N.B | 20 June 1913 |
| RR/8/357 | Referee's report by John William Strutt, Lord Rayleigh, on a paper 'Experimental determination of the velocity of white and of coloured light' by James Young and George Forbes | [1881] |
| RR/15/191 | Referee's report by Silvanus Phillips Thompson, on a paper 'Description of a range-finder' by George Forbes | 2 August 1901 |
| L&P/3/345 | Letter, 'On the patella or limpet' from George Forbes to John Eaton Dodsworth | 1758 |
| RR/15/336 | Referee's report by Charles Vernon Boys, on a paper 'A portable telemeter, or range-finder' by G Forbes | 1 March 1902 |
| NLB/66/626 | Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to the General Secretary, Royal Society of Edinburgh, Edinburgh | 5 June 1924 |
| NLB/35/11 | Copy letter from Archibald Geikie, to Professor George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 27 March 1907 |
| RR/8/356 | Referee's report by George Gabriel Stokes, on a paper 'Experimental determination of the velocity of white and of coloured light' by James Young and George Forbes | 19 July 1881 |
| MDA/C/26/60 | Application to the Scientific Relief Fund, on behalf of George Forbes | 1930-1932 |
| MC/11/209 | Letter from George Forbes, Scientific Club, 7 Savile Row, to Professor [George Gabriel] Stokes, [Secretary of the Royal Society] | 4 May 1878 |
| MC/11 | Volume 11 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1877-1879 |
| PP/8/13 | Paper, 'On a thermopile and galvanometer combined' by George Forbes | 1886 |
| PP/10/15 | Paper, 'A thermal telephone transmitter' by George Forbes | 1887 |
| RR/17/163 | Referee's report by Henry Bradwardine Jackson, on a paper 'Exterior ballistics. (No. 2.)' by George Forbes | 14 November 1907 |
| MC/21 | Volume 21 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1906 |
| MC/27/118 | Letter from George Forbes, Kinnaird Cottage, Pitlochrie, N.B, to the [Royal Society] | 18 August 1912 |
| MC/21/123 | Letter from George Forbes, 34 Great George Street, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society | 1 August 1906 |
| MC/22/79 | Letter from George Forbes, The Athenaeum, Pall Mall, to the Royal Society | 30 November 1907 |
| MC/22/80 | Letter from George Forbes, Uplands, Fareham, Hants, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society | 5 December 1907 |