Men Of Vision: Oliver Heaviside

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Men of Vision - Oliver Heaviside. By Peter Carroll 2009

　

In my lifetime communication has progressed so very much, it didn’t seem all that long ago when we thought receiving a television picture over the Eurovision link was something of a miracle, having been used to nothing better than a very poor quality reception both on radio and TV.

I remember how we used to tune into radio Luxemburg in the fifties to hear the music we wanted to hear, and how the signal kept systematically fading, but for all that we continued to listen anyway. I particularly remember as a boy, hearing the infamous voice of ‘Lord Haw-Haw’ an Englishman and traitor of world war two who broadcast propaganda ensuing we never stood a chance against the superior power of Germany.

And ( I am giving my age away now) I can just remember the ‘wind up’ telephone which generated an electrical impulse for a very poor communication, but at least we were learning just how important it was to communicate thanks to the initiative of impulsive inventors like Oliver Heaviside who, from 1889-97 lived in Paignton, Devon and is buried there along with his parents.

Who is Oliver Heaviside for goodness sake? Well he is probably one of the many whose talents who were not appreciated at a time when others were out there waiting to jump on the bandwagon and take all the credit. It seems ironic that his achievements were not recognised until after his passing

He was a self-taught English electrical engineer, mathematician and physicist who adapted complex numbers to the study of electrical circuits. He took up residence with his parents in Palace Avenue, Paignton in a house which is now Barclays bank and was often seen in his brother Charles music shop on the ground floor apparently to share with him a new discovery or formula regarding electric and magnetic forces. In 1897 he lived in Torquay until his death in 1925 He developed a form of mathematical calculus, discovered along with a colleague, the “Kennelly-Heaviside layer” in the ionosphere, important to radio communication.

We owe it to him and his contemporaries like his uncle, Charles Fothergill Wheatstone and his mentor, James Clerk Maxwell that we now enjoy the benefits of world wide communication in every aspect. Heaviside was said to be one of the foremost mathematicians of his time in Britain “ a man of towering genius among the highest this country has produced” which proved to be an essential when formulating a source of telegraphy using the principle of electromagnetism.

His uncle along with William Cooke -were two inventors and physicists who worked together and in 1837 patented the Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph system. And in America F.B. Morse developed another version of a telegraph and the Morse -code was born.

He never married which was synonymous with many a genius of his time, probably so involved with what they were doing they had neither the time nor the energy for a personal committed relationship.

To get the feel of this man, I visited his family grave in Paignton Cemetery, he joined his mother, Rachel and father Thomas in 1925 at the age of 74. The headstone is one of the few that still retains a certain newness in appearance which I felt denotes the energy and spirit of the man.

I felt there was something there, exuding from the area, as if he was still busy in the afterlife, working on a new idea - and maybe, just maybe he has discovered something very special, that any form of spiritual contact here on earth, comes by way of electrical impulse.

Some believe there is a connection of course, and others are tormented by invisible magnetic energies that disrupt their lives, some are captivated by it. Arguably Oliver is still at work, that’s what he did in life and that is what he does in afterlife. It’s a wonderful notion.

He was born in London’s Camden Town. As a child he was short and red-headed and suffered a nasty about of Scarlet Fever which was all to common then - leaving him with a hearing impairment.

But he was an exceptional student, placed fifth out of five hundred in 1865.

His uncle Charles , married to Oliver’s mother’s sister took a strong interest in his nephews education. He left school at 16 to study at home in the subjects of telegraphy and electromagnetism until he was 18 then took a job with the Great Northern Telegraph Company. He soon gained the position of chief operator, continuing to study while working Passionate about his subject he read time and time again James Clerk Maxwell’s newly published and today famous Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. He was fascinated with “he prodigious possibilities of its power” quite his job in 1874 determined to master the book and set to work under his own steam, possibly helped financially by his uncle who was always there to encourage him. He was soon on the road to formulating a breakthrough with what became known as the co-axial cable and in 1884 he reinvented many of his mentors equations from their original cumbersome form. In1887 he proposed that induction coils (inductors) should be added to telephone and telegraph lines to ease distortion - but for political reasons this was not done.

Later when Campbell and Pupin extended his work the huge AT & T company offered him money in exchange for his rights, He refused on principle because the company would not give him the full recognition. Given the fact that he was extremely poor this said a lot for the man.

But undaunted he continued in his work and eventually in 1891 the British Royal Society recognised his contributions to the description of electromagnetic phenomena by naming him a fellow of the Royal Society and later, in 1905 he was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Gottingden.

In 1902 he proposed the existence of the Kennelly-Heaviside Layer of the ionosphere which bears his name. His proposal included means by which radio signals are transmitted around the earth’s curvature.

So when getting impatient with a slow response from your mobile think of how it was when one had to use a wind -up version to telecommunicate and when you could barely hear the voice at the other end! All very much taken for granted now but it is thanks to men like Oliver Heaviside we have progressed to where we are now.

And, researching this piece, I was invited, with my wife, Daphne, to the residence of Oliver’s only remaining blood descendant, Alan Heather. Alan is 81 now and lives with his charming wife Jeanne in Torquay. And is Oliver Heaviside’s first cousin three times removed. To shake the hand of Alan was indeed an honour and a privilege and he kindly presented me with a signed copy of his book; Oliver Heaviside “It’s my genius that keeps me warm.”