Arthur Prince Chattock, FRS (14 August 1860 – 1 July 1934) was a British

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Career

Chattock was educated at

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

and

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. After a short time as an electrical engineer for

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

he returned to University College, London to study under George Carey Foster. In 1885 he succeeded

Silvanus P. Thompson Silvanus Phillips Thompson (19 June 1851 – 12 June 1916) was an English professor of physics at the City and Guilds Technical College in Finsbury, England. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1891 and was known for his work as an electr ...

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...

, Bristol as demonstrator in Physics. Chattock spent two years (1887-9) in Liverpool with

Oliver Lodge Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was an English physicist whose investigations into electromagnetic radiation contributed to the development of Radio, radio communication. He identified electromagnetic radiation indepe ...

where in February 1888 he worked on key experiments towards the understanding of radio waves. Later he returned to Bristol and took up the chair of Physics in 1893. Chattock had to leave the university in 1910 as it struggled with its new university status, the acting head of the physics department role being taken by Arthur Mannering Tyndall. After leaving Chattock became a chicken farmer in Crowcombe,

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. But Tyndall invited Chattock back after the war in 1919 where he carried out definitive experiments on the

gyromagnetic ratio In physics, the gyromagnetic ratio (also sometimes known as the magnetogyric ratio in other disciplines) of a particle or system is the ratio of its magnetic moment to its angular momentum, and it is often denoted by the symbol , gamma. Its SI u ...

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

. He became a fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) on 13 May 1920 and finally retired in 1924. After retirement Chattock continued to publish about his research into poultry. He was a supporter of

psychical research Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those r ...

with an interest in

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

. He was associated with the

Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...

(SPR). He died at home in Clifton Bristol in 1934 with Obituaries appearing in the ''Journal of Institution of Electrical Engineers'',

Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society The ''Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society'' is an academic journal on the history of science published annually by the Royal Society. It publishes obituaries of Fellows of the Royal Society. It was established in 1932 as ''Obitu ...

, and ''Nature''.

Publications

* An instrument for the measurement of the co-efficients of electro-magnetic induction; Liverpool; ~1888 * On the Specific Velocities of Ions in the Discharge from Points; 1901 * On the Richardson Gyro-magnetic effect; 1923 * On the physics of incubation; 1925 * Gaseous ions : Bristol, 1899-1928

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chattock, Arthur Prince 1860 births 1934 deaths Academics of University College Bristol Alumni of University College London English physicists British experimental physicists Fellows of the Royal Society British parapsychologists People associated with the University of Liverpool Scientists from Bristol People from Solihull People educated at University College School