| Authorised form of name | Duddell; William (1872 - 1917); electrical engineer |
| Other forms of name | William Du Bois |
| Dates | 1872 - 1917 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Westmoreland Place, Kensington, London, England |
| Date of birth | 01 July 1872 |
| Place of death | Newlands House, 180 Tooting Bec Road, London, England |
| Date of death | 04 November 1917 |
| Dates and places | Burial place: Brighton, East Sussex, England |
| Occupation | Electrical engineer |
| Research field | Electrical engineering |
| Engineering |
| Activity | Education:
Privately educated in England; Collège Stanislas, Cannes.
Career:
Apprenticed to the firm of Davey, Paxman & Co. at Colchester (1890-1893); studied at the Central Technical College (later the City and Guilds College), South Kensington, London, under Professors William Edward Ayrton (FRS 1881) and Thomas Mather (FRS 1902), obtaining a Whitworth exhibition (1896); and a Whitworth scholarship (1897); developed many instruments including a fully engineered oscillograph, a vibration galvanometer; a thermos-ammeter; a twisted strip galvanometer, and a version of Einthoven’s string galvanometer; demonstrated his discovery that an arc connected across a capacitor and an inductor could oscillate (1901); died of general paralysis.
Memberships:
Röntgen Society (President 1907)
Institution of Electrical Engineers (President 1912-1914)
Commission Internationale de Télégraphie sans Fils (President 1914)
Physical Society (VP and honorary treasurer)
Awards/Medals:
Paris Exhibition gold medal (1900)
St Louis Exhibition (1904)
Honours:
CBE 1917 (posthumously) |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 02/05/1907 |
| Age at election | 35 |
| Proposer | William Thompson; William Crookes; William Heny Preece; Richard Threlfall; Charles Chree; Henry Capel Lofft Holden; Thomas Mather |
| John Perry; William Edward Ayrton; Richard Tetley Glazebrook; James Swinburne; Horace Darwin; Joseph Wilson Swan; Hugh Longbourne Callendar; Oliver Lodge |
| Royal Society activity | Medals and prizes:
Hughes Medal 1912 |
| Relationships | Parents: Frances Kate Du Bois, the identity of his father is unknown.
Sister: Mrs Blanche Gladys Du Bois Colston. |
| General context | His major contributions included the oscillograph and the musical arc, and whilst they are no longer of any practical importance, they were crucial to the development of electrical engineering and wireless telegraphy. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series A 1917-1918 vol 94 pp xxxiv-xxxv, plate, signed by J S |
| Royal Society code | NA6948 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| M/126 | Duddell Medal of the Physical Society | 1922 |
| M/204 | Duddell, William Du Bois CBE | 1917 |
| IM/001207 | Duddell, William | nd |
| RR/15/149 | Referee's report by Andrew Gray, on a paper 'The mechanism of the electric arc' by Phoebe Sarah Hertha Marks Ayrton | December 1901 |
| RR/15/180 | Second referee's report by George Carey Foster, on a paper 'The resistive and electromotive forces of the electric arc' by William Duddell | 7 February 1904 |
| NLB/23/1/698 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Duddell, [Fellow of the Royal Society], 47 Hans Place, S.W. | 6 January 1902 |
| NLB/23/1/636 | Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to William Duddell, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 16 December 1901 |
| NLB/43/333 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Duddell, Fellow of the Royal Society | 13 December 1910 |
| NLB/32/553 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Duddell | 3 April 1906 |
| NLB/32/865 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Duddell | 8 June 1906 |
| NLB/35/72 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Duddell, 47 Hans Place, S.W. | 12 April 1907 |
| NLB/36/690 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 2 December 1907 |
| NLB/35/774 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 16 July 1907 |
| NLB/38/656 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Duddell, Fellow of the Royal Society | 19 October 1908 |
| NLB/41/420 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Duddell, Fellow of the Royal Society | 10 December 1909 |
| NLB/40/152 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to W [William] Duddell FRS | 26 April 1909 |
| NLB/41/589 | Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to William Duddell, Fellow of the Royal Society | 18 January 1910 |
| NLB/45/143 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to W [William] Duddell FRS, 56 Victoria Street, SW | 5 January 1912 |
| NLB/46/145 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Duddell, Fellow of the Royal Society | 17 June 1912 |
| NLB/47/141 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to W [William] Duddell FRS | 7 December 1912 |
| NLB/46/694 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to William Duddell, Fellow of the Royal Society | 18 October 1912 |
| NLB/51/56 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society to William Duddell, FRS | 30 November 1914 |
| NLB/51/48 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society to William Duddell, FRS | 26 November 1914 |
| NLB/52/371 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor Charles Herbert Lees, Chairman of the Physics and Chemistry Committee and FRS | 19 November 1915 |
| RR/22/48 | Referee's report by William Duddell, on a paper 'The consumption of carbon in the electric arc. No. III - The anode loss' by W Geoffrey Duffield | 16 November 1915 |
| RR/21/50 | Referee's report by William Duddell, on a paper 'On the measurement of alternating electric currents of high frequency' by Albert Campbell and David William Dye | 30 June 1914 |
| RR/22/47 | Referee's report by William Duddell, on a paper 'The consumption of carbon in the electric arc. I - Variation with current and arc-length. II. - Influence upon the luminous radiation from the arc' by W Geoffrey Duffield | August 1915 |
| RR/15/179 | Referee's report by Professor Andrew Gray, on a paper 'The resistive and electromotive forces of the electric arc' by William Duddell | December 1901 |
| NLB/37/140 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to W [William] Duddell FRS | 30 January 1908 |
| RR/21/14 | Referee's report by William Duddell, on a paper 'On the flow of electricity through dielectrics, etc' by G E Bairsto | [June 1914] |
| EC/1907/11 | Duddell, William: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| NLB/36/883 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to James Swinburne, Fellow of the Royal Society | 7 January 1908 |
| RR/15/178 | Referee's report by George Carey Foster, on a paper 'The resistive and electromotive forces of the electric arc' by William Duddell | 12 August 1901 |
| RR/15/181 | Referee's report by Arthur Schuster, on a paper 'The resistive and electromotive forces of the electric arc' by William Duddell | March 1904 |
| RR/21/15 | Committee report by William Duddell, on a paper 'On the flow of electricity through dielectrics, etc' by G E Bairsto | 26 November 1914 |
| MC/27/91 | Letter from [William] Duddell, 56 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, S.W, to Robert Harrison, The Royal Society, Burlington House, W | 11 December 1912 |
| MC/27/90 | Letter from [William] Duddell, 56 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, S.W, to Sir Joseph Larmor, The Royal Society, Burlington House | 9 November 1912 |
| MC/27/89 | Letter from [William] Duddell, 56 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, S.W, to [Robert] Harrison, The Royal Soicety, Burlington House, W | 16 October 1912 |
| MC/32/250 | Letter from Kate Smithers, 36 Walton Street, Print Street, to the [Royal Society] | 14 October 1917 |
| MC/32/251 | Letter from Kate Smithers, 36 Walton Street, S.W.3, to the [Royal Society] | 19 October 1917 |