Difference between revisions of "Joseph Ernest Petavel"
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His death occurred at Bushy House, Teddington, on 31st March 1936, in his sixty-third year. | His death occurred at Bushy House, Teddington, on 31st March 1936, in his sixty-third year. | ||
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'''1936 Obituary <ref>[[1936 Institute of Metals: Obituaries]] </ref> | |||
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[[Category: Institution of Civil Engineers]] | [[Category: Institution of Civil Engineers]] | ||
[[Category: Institution of Electrical Engineers]] | [[Category: Institution of Electrical Engineers]] | ||
[[Category: Institute of Metals]] | |||
Revision as of 14:34, 13 October 2016
Joseph Ernest Petavel (1873-1936), director of the National Physical Laboratory from 1919 to 1936 and was the designer of the Petavel gauge for measurement of the pressures within exploding gasses.
1936 Obituary [1]
Sir JOSEPH ERNEST PETAVEL, K.B.E., D.Sc., was director of the National Physical Laboratory, a position to which he succeeded on the retirement of the late Sir Richard Glazebrook, Hon. M.I.Mech.E., in 1919. He was thus responsible for the remarkable changes in organization and for the numerous extensions to the Laboratory which came into being after the War.
Among the chief additions to the buildings were the high-voltage building, containing a 1,000,000-volt installation; the great compressed-air wind tunnel, completed in 1931; a second tank for ship models; a new building for acoustical research; and two open-jet wind tunnels, added in 1933-4. Recently a new photometry building was also added. The metallurgical department was also enlarged, and a commencement was made with the investigations now conducted by the Radio Research Board.
Sir Joseph was born in London and received his training under Sir Ambrose Fleming at University College, after which he studied at the University of Lausanne. He gained an 1851 Exhibition research scholarship in 1895, which enabled him to proceed with research on primary standards of light in the Davy-Faraday Laboratory of the Royal Institution.
In 1900 he went to Owens College, Manchester, as John Marling Research Fellow, and later he became a lecturer in physics and meteorology. Four years later he went to the St. Louis Exhibition as scientific manager of the liquid air plant shown there by the British Royal Commission.
He was appointed Beyer Professor of engineering and director of the Whitworth Laboratories at the University of Manchester in 1908, and was a member of the council of the University and of the senate. Whilst occupying this position he continued his researches, particularly in connexion with very high gas pressures, up to 45,000 lb. per sq. in., to withstand which he designed special joints; he also devised a pressure indicator for use at such pressures, a time scale which could be read to 1/1,000 second being included in the apparatus. Valuable records of the pressure waves created by explosives were thus obtained.
Sir Joseph's connexion with the National Physical Laboratory dated back to 1911, when he joined the general board, of which he remained a member until 1916. He also served on the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (now the Aeronautical Research Committee) of which he became chairman in 1917. The great extension of aerodynamical research which took place about that time was largely due to him.
He also served on multitudinous Government and other technical committees, and on the councils of the British Electrical and Allied Industries Research Association and the British Standards Institution. In addition he was a past-president of the Engineering Section of the British Association.
He was the author of a large number of articles published in the technical press, and contributed to the discussions of meetings of the Institution, of which he had been a Member since 1914.
He was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. His election to Fellowship of the Royal Society took place in 1907. In 1920 he was created a K.B.E.
His death occurred at Bushy House, Teddington, on 31st March 1936, in his sixty-third year.
1936 Obituary [2]