| Authorised form of name | Hopkinson; Bertram (1874 - 1918) |
| Dates | 1874 - 1918 |
| Place of birth | Birmingham |
| Date of birth | 11 January 1874 |
| Date of death | 26/08/1918 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial: St Giles Cemetery Cambridge after a military funeral on 30 August 1918 |
| Occupation | Experimental Physicist |
| Activity | Education:
St. Paul's, London; Trinity College, Cambridge 1893-6 (MA Mathematics).
King's College London and/or King's College London Hospital
B.Sc (1894) Experimental Physics
Career:
Appointed professor of mechanism and applied mechanics in Cambridge, in charge of the department of mechanical ~science (later engineering). His work was in metal stress, alloys, magnetism, explosion in gases and the internal combustion engine.
Royal Air Force Flying Corps, November 1915
Tribute from Sir Alfred Ewing, Principal of Edinburgh University, to The Times, 12 September 1918 to the scientific work of the late Colonel Bertram Hopkinson, C.M.G., F.R.S.. He says :- “It is indeed a tragedy in this regard that he should have been taken at the very summit of his powers, and at the moment when they were so fully engaged in serving the nation’s urgent need. His genius for applied science was hereditary. He had the same faculty as gave his father an honoured place in the history of electrical engineering, the same rare combination of mastery of theory and scientific method with appreciation of practical requirements and possibilities. It was this that enabled him to be conspicuously successful as Professor of Applied Mechanics at Cambridge: and it was this that made the value of his war work almost unique. It chanced that his own researches before the war, and those of students working under him in the Cambridge laboratory, formed in some degree a preparation for what was to come. They dealt with the processes and results of explosions, with the action of internal-combustion engines, and with the fatigue of materials under incipient overstrain. They were of high interest in themselves and in their bearing on matters of engineering practice. But to Hopkinson they were more: one may say they constituted and apprenticeship for the great work of his life, which was the work of the past four years. Of what he has accomplished in these years, for the Admiralty, and especially for the Air Force, it is not now permissible to speak. This, however, may be said, that the war gave him such an opportunity as he had never had before, and into it he threw all his inventiveness, all his initiative, his untiring energy, his power of organisation, his unrivalled capacity for getting the best out of himself and out of others. No worker rejoiced more in his work, nor accepted its call with more absolute self-renunciation. He was amazingly aloof from any consideration of personal advantage or personal convenience. The pressure of exacting claims on his attention was continuous, but it seemed never able to ruffle his serenity nor impair the soundness of his judgment. Many will mourn him as a genial and trusted friend, but only those who know something of his recent activities can have any idea of the magnitude of the nation’s loss.
Honours:
CMG 1918 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 05/05/1910 |
| Relationships | Son of John Hopkinson (FRS 1878) and Mrs.E. Hopkinson (born Evelyn Oldenbourg), of 'Ellerslie', Adams Rd, Cambridge; eldest of three boys and three girls; brother-in-law of Sir James Alfred Ewing (FRS 1887); husband of Mariana Hopkinson (nee Siemens) of 10 Adams Rd., Cambridge. Married in 1903 to the eldest daughter of Mr Alexander Siemens. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series A 1918-1919 vol 95 pp xxvi-xxvi, plate, signed by J A E
The Times, 12 September 1918, by Sir Alfred Ewing
References:
T M Charlton, 'Professor Bertram Hopkinson, CMG, MA, BSc, FRS (1874-1918)' in NR 1974-5 vol 29 pp 101-109
Online sources;
http://kingscollections.org/warmemorials/kings-college/memorials/hopkinson-bertram |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/59450460 |
| Code | NA7297 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| MS/525/6/4/3 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, National Club, 1 Whitehall Gardens, to [Dugald] Clerk | 28 December 1914 |
| EC/1910/11 | Hopkinson, Bertram: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| MS/525/5/1/18 | Telegram from Bertram Hopkinson to Dugald Clerk | 26 December 1914 |
| MS/525/5/2/27 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, Admiralty, to Dugald Clerk | 9 May 1915 |
| MS/525/5/2/39 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, Admiralty, to [Dugald] Clerk | 4 July 1915 |
| MS/525/5/1/17 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, 10 Adams Road, Cambridge, to Dugald Clerk | 25 December [1914] |
| MS/525/5/1/19 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, Admiralty, to [Dugald] Clerk | 26 December [1914] |
| MS/525/5/2/60 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, Engineering Laboratory, Cambridge, to [Dugald] Clerk | 7 October 1915 |
| MS/525/5/2/19 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, Westover, Milford-on-Sea, Hants, to Dugald Clerk | 25 April [1915] |
| MS/525/5/2/36 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, [15?] Albemarle Street to [Dugald] Clerk | [1915] |
| MS/525/5/2/61 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, Admiralty Board of Invention and Research, Victory House, Cockspur Street | 11 October 1915 |
| MS/525/6/4/7 | 'Note on explosives' by Bertram Hopkinson | 1914-1915 |
| MS/525/6/4/5 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson to E H W Tennyson-D'Eyncourt, Admiralty | 4 January 1915 |
| MS/525/6/4/8 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, Engineering Laboratory, Cambridge to Dugald Clerk, 57/58 Lincoln's Inn Fields | 4 June 1915 |
| MS/525/6/4/6 | Report from [Bertram Hopkinson] to the Secretary, The Admiralty, London | 18 March 1915 |
| MS/525/6/6/2/3 | Draft letter from [Bertram Hopkinson], Admiralty, to Commander [A L ] Gwynne | 3 February 1915 |
| MS/525/6/6/1/19 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, Engineering Laboratory, Cambridge, to Dugald Clerk, 57 Lincoln's Inn Fields. London | 3 January 1915 |
| MS/525/6/6/1/25 | 'Suggested tests of anchors' [by Bertram Hopkinson] | 18 January 1915 |
| MS/525/6/6/1/24 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson to Lieutenant Commander Gwynne, HMS Vernon, Portsmouth | 18 January 1915 |
| MS/525/6/8/15 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson, Admiralty, to [Dugald] Clerk | 8 August [1915] |
| MS/525/7/3/6 | Letter from Bertram Hopkinson to Dugald Clerk | 21 July 1915 |
| NLB/48/272 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor [Bertram] Hopkinson, Fellow of the Royal Society | 7 June 1913 |
| NLB/44/401 | Copy letter from Joseph Larmor to [Bertram] Hopkinson | 6 July 1911 |
| RR/16/326 | Referee's report by James Alfred Ewing, on a paper 'The elastic properties of steel at high temperatures' by Bertram Hopkinson and F Rogers | 8 July 1905 |
| RR/17/52 | Referee's report by Hugh Longbourne Callendar, on a paper 'Explosions of coal-gas and air' by Bertram Hopkinson | [February 1906] |
| NLB/18/350 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to B Hopkinson, 26 Victoria Street, S.W. | 27 February 1899 |
| NLB/32/258 | Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Hugh Longbourne Callendar, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 8 February 1906 |
| NLB/30/232 | Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor Bertram Hopkinson, [Fellow of the Royal Society], Trinity College, Cambridge | February 1905 |
| NLB/30/204 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Bertram Hopkinson, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 13 February 1905 |
| NLB/30/600 | Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor Bertram Hopkinson, [Fellow of the Royal Society], and F Rogers | 13 April 1905 |
| NLB/32/305 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to W A Tookey, 19 Old Queen Street, Westminster, S.W. | 16 February 1906 |
| NLB/32/341 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Hugh Longbourne Callendar, Fellow of the Royal Society | 22 February 1906 |
| NLB/42/385 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 1 June 1910 |
| NLB/35/129 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Bertram Hopkinson | 19 April 1907 |
| NLB/42/377 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 1 June 1910 |
| NLB/42/565 | Copy letter from Joseph Larmor to Professor B [Bertram] Hopkinson FRS | 8 July 1910 |
| NLB/42/402 | Copy letter from Theodore E James to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 6 June 1910 |
| NLB/42/619 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor B [Bertram] Hopkinson FRS | 19 July 1910 |
| NLB/42/633 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor B [Bertram] Hopkinson FRS | 21 July 1910 |
| NLB/43/324 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Bertram Hopkinson, Fellow of the Royal Society | 10 December 1910 |
| NLB/43/685 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Bertram Hopkinson, Fellow of the Royal Society | 10 March 1911 |
| NLB/44/816 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor B [Bertram] Hopkinson FRS | 20 November 1911 |
| NLB/46/119 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Bertram Hopkinson, Fellow of the Royal Society | 12 June 1912 |
| NLB/46/828 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Bertram Hopkinson, Fellow of the Royal Society | 7 November 1912 |
| NLB/47/35 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor B [Bertram] Hopkinson FRS | 18 November 1912 |
| NLB/48/460 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor [Bertram] Hopkinson, Fellow of the Royal Society | 8 July 1913 |
| NLB/51/242 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society to Professor Bertram Hopkinson FRS | 22 January 1915 |
| NLB/54/509 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 5 June 1917 |
| RR/21/143 | Referee's report by Bertram Hopkinson, on a paper 'The determination of fatigue limits under alternating stress conditions' by C E Stromeyer | [May 1914] |
| RR/20/92 | Referee's report by Bertram Hopkinson, on a paper 'Note on copying machinery' by A Mallock | 17 June 1913 |
| NLB/57/213 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to unknown correspondent | 19 August 1919 |
| NLB/55/852 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir [James] Alfred Ewing, FRS | 16 October 1918 |
| NLB/55/152 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [Bertram] Hopkinson, FRS | 21 December 1917 |
| NLB/56/611 | Copy letter from Dr. Arthur Schuster, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Mrs Hopkinson, Mother of Bertram Hopkinson, FRS | 27 March 1919 |
| RR/17/51 | Referee's report by Arthur Schuster, on a paper 'A recording calorimeter for explosions' by Bertram Hopkinson | [January 1907] |
| RR/18/42 | Referee's report by George Frederick Charles Searle, on a paper 'On the magnetic properties of iron and its alloys in intense field' by Robert Abbott Hadfield and Bertram Hopkinson | 14 June 1910 |
| RR/20/139 | Referee's report by Bertram Hopkinson, on a paper 'The determination of elastic limits under alternating stress conditions' by C E Stromeyer | 26 December 1913 |
| NLB/57/61 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to J.B. Peace Esq.; Cambridge University Press | 10 July 1919 |
| NLB/57/92 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to unknown correspondent [Messrs. Harrison & Sons; St Martins Lane] | 17 July 1919 |
| RR/18/49 | Referee's report by Hugh Longbourne Callendar, on a paper 'On radiation in a gaseous explosion' by Bertram Hopkinson | May 1910 |
| RR/21/69 | Referee's report by Bertram Hopkinson, on two papers 'The measurement of arterial pressure in man. I.—The auditory method' and 'The measurement of arterial pressure in man. II.—A schematic investigation' by Martin Flack, Leonard Erskine Hill and James McQueen | 28 January 1915 |
| MC/18 | Volume 18 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1903 |
| NLB/36/363 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Bertram Hopkinson, Engineering Laboratories, Cambridge | 18 October 1907 |
| NLB/42/433 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to J [Joseph] Barcroft, FRS [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 13 June 1910 |
| NLB/54/553 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Major Betram Hopkinson; Air Board Office, the Strand, W. C. | 18 June 1917 |
| NLB/57 | New Letter Book volume 57, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration | 27 June 1919-27 February 1920 |
| RR/19/121 | Referee's report by Bertram Hopkinson, on a paper 'A standard measuring machine' by P E Shaw | 9 July 1912 |
| RR/20/68 | Referee's report by Charles Vernon Boys, on a paper 'A method of measuring the pressure produced in the detonation of high explosives or by the impact of bullets' by Bertram Hopkinson | October 1913 |
| RR/20/69 | Referee's report by Joseph Ernest Petavel, on a paper 'A method of measuring the pressure produced in the detonation of high explosives or by the impact of bullets' by Bertram Hopkinson | 4 November 1913 |
| RR/20/102 | Referee's report by Bertram Hopkinson, on a paper 'The influence of molecular constitution and temperature on magnetic susceptibility' by A E Oxley | 20 January 1914 |
| MC/18/39 | Letter from [James Alfred Ewing], Admiralty, to [Joseph] Larmor | 9 June 1903 |