| Authorised form of name | Hughes; David Edward (1831 - 1900); teacher and telegraph engineer |
| Dates | 1831 - 1900 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Green-y-Ddwyryd, near Corwen, Merionethshire, Wales |
| Date of birth | 16 May 1831 |
| Place of death | 40 Langham Street, Marylebone, London, England |
| Date of death | 22/01/1900 |
| Dates and places | Burial:
Highgate Cemetery, London |
| Occupation | Teacher and telegraph engineer |
| Research field | Physics |
| Telegraphy |
| Activity | Education:
Kentucky
Career:
Moved to Virginia, USA as a child (1838); Professor of Physics, Kentucky College, Bardstown, Kentucky, USA; invented and patented an improvement to the type printing telegraph (1855); returned to England (1857); invented the microphone (1878); died of paralysis; left £300,000, of which £4,000 was given to the Royal Society, part being used to endow the Hughes Medal for discovery in the physical sciences, especially electricity and magnetism.
Memberships:
Royal Institution
Medals/Awards:
Albert medal 1896 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 03/06/1880 |
| Age at election | 49 |
| Proposer | Charles Vincent Walker |
| Warren De La Rue |
| John Hall Gladstone |
| Frederick Guthrie |
| William Thomson |
| William Chandler Roberts |
| William Grylls Adams |
| Royal Society activity | Medals and prizes:
Royal Medal 1885 |
| Relationships | Parents: David Hughes.
Grandfather: Robert Hughes, bootmaker, of London and Bala.
Spouse: Anna (d. 1920), daughter of Dr Thomas Chadbourne |
| General context | First man to transmit and receive radio waves.
Known for the teleprinter and microphone. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Image | 
|
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
References:
G Burniston Brown, 'David Edward Hughes, FRS, 1831-1900' in NR 1979-80 vol 34 pp 227-239, plate |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/79390164 |
| Royal Society code | NA7981 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1880/10 | Hughes, David Edward: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| IM/Maull/002292 | Hughes, David Edward | nd |
| NLB/6/1202 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor David Edward Hughes | 9 November 1892 |
| NLB/10/352 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor David Edward Hughes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 12 November 1894 |
| NLB/8/541 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor David Edward Hughes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 15 November 1893 |
| NLB/10/673 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor David Edward Hughes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 18 January 1895 |
| NLB/9/137 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor David Edward Hughes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 4 April 1894 |
| NLB/15/617 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Beckett, Terrell & Company, 93 Chancery Lane | 5 November 1897 |
| NLB/20/62 | Copy letter from Michael Foster, to Professor William Henry Preece | 25 June 1900 |
| NLB/15/620 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor David Edward Hughes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 5 November 1897 |
| NLB/16/169 | Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Professor D E Hughes, Fellow of the Royal Society | 15 February 1898 |
| NLB/20/73 | Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 26 January 1900 |
| NLB/20/120 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to H W Christmas, 42a Bloomsbury Square | 7 February 1900 |
| NLB/20/677 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Major W James Adams | 15 June 1900 |
| NLB/21/10 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to the Secretary, Estate Duty Department, Somerset House | 16 July 1900 |
| RR/9/221 | Referee's report by William Grylls Adams, on a paper 'Magnetic polarity and neutrality' by David Edward Hughes | 22 April 1884 |
| NLB/64/364 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Messrs Meccano Ltd.; Binns Road, Liverpool | 23 March 1923 |
| RR/9/222 | Referee's report by George Carey Foster, on a paper 'Magnetic polarity and neutrality' by David Edward Hughes | 23 April 1884 |
| IM/Maull/002293 | Hughes, David Edward | nd |
| MS/377/1/72 | Letter from David Edward Hughes, 94 Great Portland Street, London, to William Fletcher Barrett | 20 January 1879 |
| PP/3/2 | Paper, 'Preliminary note on a theory of magnetism based upon new experimental researches' by D E [David Edward] Hughes | 1883 |
| PP/3/18 | Paper, 'Theory of magnetism based upon new experimental researches' by [David Edward] Hughes | 1883 |
| PP/3/18/1 | Manuscript, 'Theory of magnetism based upon new experimental researches' by [David Edward] Hughes | 1883 |
| PP/3/18/2 | Diagrams, experimental equipment and results by [David Edward] Hughes | 1883 |
| PP/4/28 | Paper, 'Note on the theory of the magnetic balance of Hughes' by Silvanus P [Phillips] Thompson | 1884 |
| PP/4/12 | Paper, 'On a magnetic balance, and experimental researches made therewith' by D E [David Edward] Hughes | 1883 |
| PP/4/33 | Paper, 'Magnetic polarity and neutrality' by D E [David Edward] Hughes | 1884 |
| PP/8/30 | Paper, 'Researches upon the self-induction of an electric current' by David Edward Hughes | 1886 |
| PP/24/18 | Paper, 'On some phenomena in vacuum-tubes' by David Salomons | 1894 |
| PP/24/18/1 | Manuscript, 'On some phenomena in vacuum-tubes' by David Salomons | 1894 |
| MC/14/87 | Letter from [David Edward] Hughes, 108 Great Portland Street, to [Michael] Foster, Secretary of the Royal Society | 12 November 1885 |
| MC/14 | Volume 14 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1885-1888 |