Summary
Bertram Hopkinson CMG FRS MIEE MICE (11 January 1874 – 26 August 1918) was a British patent lawyer and Professor of Mechanism and Applied Mechanics at Cambridge University. In this position he researched flames, explosions and metallurgy and became a pioneer designer of the internal combustion engine.
Professor, Colonel Bertram Hopkinson | |
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| Born | 11 January 1874 |
| Died | 26 August 1918 (aged 44) England |
| Resting place | Ascension Parish Burial Ground, Cambridge |
| Education | St Paul's School, London, King's College, London, Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Occupation(s) | Professor of mechanism and applied mechanics, University of Cambridge |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent law |
| Institutions | Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Mechanical Engineers |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society |
Background edit
Hopkinson was born in Birmingham, in 1874, the son of John Hopkinson, an electrical engineer. He read law at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became a lawyer after his graduation.[1] Following the death of his father, brother and two of his sisters in a mountaineering accident in 1898, Hopkinson switched to a career in engineering instead.[2]
Career edit
In 1903, Hopkinson was elected to the Cambridge chair in mechanism and applied mechanics, and in 1910 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. During World War I he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers, and opened a research establishment at Orford Ness where he and his team researched weapons, sights, and ammunition. In 1915, Hopkinson discovered a similarity relation between the masses of explosive charges and their effects at a given distance.[3] The same similarity relation was discovered independently in 1925 by Karl Julius Cranz in Germany.[4]
Service in World War I edit
Having become an aviator after joining the army, Hopkinson died on 26 August 1918 when his Bristol Fighter crashed en route from Martlesham Heath to London. He is buried in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with his wife Mariana, née Siemens; they had seven daughters.[5][6]
See also edit
Notes edit
References edit
- ^ "Hopkinson, Bertram (HPKN891B)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ "Professor Bertram Hopkinson (1874-1918)". g.eng.cam.ac.uk. University of Cambridge. p. 1. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
- ^ Hopkinson, B. (1915) British ordnance minutes, 13563.
- ^ Cranz, Karl Julius, Lehrbuch der Ballistik (Berlin: Julius Springer, 1926), vol.2 ("Innere Ballistik"), pp. 174 ff.
- ^ "Professor Bertram Hopkinson (1874-1918)". g.eng.cam.ac.uk. Cambridge University. p. 4. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
- ^ "Colonel Bertram Hopkinson". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
- Secondary sources
- Heyman, Jacques. "Hopkinson, Bertram (1874–1918)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- Cranz, Karl Julius (1926). Lehrbuch der Ballistik: "Innere Ballistik". Vol. 2. Berlin: Julius Springer. pp. 174 ff.
External links edit
Media related to Bertram Hopkinson at Wikimedia Commons
- Bertram Hopkinson at Find a Grave
- Bertram Hopkinson Biography at the University of Cambridge
- Bertram Hopkinson Biography at King's College London