Dr Charles Sheibner du Riche Preller

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This so ...

FRGS The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

MIEE MICE (1844–1929) was a German-born late 19th/ early 20th century British engineer and amateur geologist. He specialised in electric railways. He was fluent in English, French, German and Italian. He founded the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

's Bruce-Preller Lecture Prize in memory of his wife. He was Chairman and Chief Engineer of the

Limmat Valley The Limmat Valley (German: ''Limmattal'') is a river valley and a region in the cantons of Zürich and Aargau in Switzerland. Geography The Limmat () is a long river located in the cantons of Zürich (ZH) and Aargau (AG). It is the c ...

Electric Railway Company in Switzerland.

Life

He was born Charles Sheibner in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

in 1844 of French descent, but moved to England (

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

) in his youth and was raised there, and was legally a British citizen. He was apprenticed as an engineer in Bradford. He studied Engineering in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, Lyons and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

and Science in

. He received doctorates from both

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

(PhD) and

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

(DSc) and also did postgraduate studies in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

. Staying in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

he was involved in the installation of one of the world's first electric railway systems in the

district from 1872. He stayed in or around

until 1878. In 1879 he began hydro-electric power projects in the

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence. Its mott ...

Mountains in Italy. In 1891 he moved to Switzerland working on electric systems in the Zurich and

St Gall Gall ( la, Gallus; 550 646) according to hagiographic tradition was a disciple and one of the traditional twelve companions of Columbanus on his mission from Ireland to the continent. Deicolus was the elder brother of Gall. Biography The ...

districts. He was also involved in the electrification of French lighthouses. In 1892 he changed his name from Sheibner to Du Riche Preller thereafter generally being known as Dr Preller. He moved to Edinburgh in 1902 and in the same year was elected a Fellow of the

(still under the name of Shreiber). His proposers were

Andrew Beatson Bell Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derive ...

William Allan Carter William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conqu ...

George Chrystal George Chrystal FRSE FRS (8 March 1851 – 3 November 1911) was a Scottish mathematician. He is primarily know for his books on algebra and his studies of seiches (wave patterns in large inland bodies of water) which earned him a Gold Medal ...

and

John Macdonald, Lord Kingsburgh Sir John Hay Athole Macdonald, Lord Kingsburgh, KCB, PC, PRSSA, FRS, FRSE (27 December 1836 – 9 May 1919) was a Scottish Conservative Party politician and later a judge. Life Macdonald was born on 28 December 1836 at 29 Great King Stre ...

. From around 1910 he began to concentrate on his geological interests, especially in the

Italian Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

. In 1914 he dropped the Germanic "Sheibner" from his name, due to anti-German feelings in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

. He died in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

on 17 February 1929 aged 84. On his death he left funds and instructions regarding creation of the Bruce-Peller Lectures which began in 1931.

Publications

*''Italian Mountain Geology'' (1918 reprinted 1923)

Family

In 1879 he was married to Rachel Steuart Bruce, daughter of Thomas Bruce of Langlee, a friend of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

Bruce-Preller Lectures

The biennial lecture is usually (but not exclusively) given by a Fellow of the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. The lectures are given in a cycle: Earth Sciences: Engineering Sciences; Medical Sciences and Biological Sciences. * 1931 -

Edmund Taylor Whittaker Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker (24 October 1873 – 24 March 1956) was a British mathematician, physicist, and historian of science. Whittaker was a leading mathematical scholar of the early 20th-century who contributed widely to applied mathema ...

- "

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and ligh ...

" * 1933 - C H Lander - "The Liquification of Coal" * 1935 -

William Lawrence Bragg Sir William Lawrence Bragg, (31 March 1890 – 1 July 1971) was an Australian-born British physicist and X-ray crystallographer, discoverer (1912) of Bragg's law of X-ray diffraction, which is basic for the determination of crystal structu ...

- "The New Crystallography" * 1937 -

Hugh Stott Taylor Sir Hugh Stott Taylor (6 February 1890 – 17 April 1974) was an English chemist primarily interested in catalysis.Who Was Who, Published by A&C Black Limited In 1925, in a landmark contribution to catalytic theory, Taylor suggested that a cat ...

- "Heavy hydrogen" * 1939 -

Patrick Blackett Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, Baron Blackett (18 November 1897 – 13 July 1974) was a British experimental physicist known for his work on cloud chambers, cosmic rays, and paleomagnetism, winning the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1948. ...

- "The

Mesotron In particle physics, a meson ( or ) is a type of hadronic subatomic particle composed of an equal number of quarks and antiquarks, usually one of each, bound together by the strong interaction. Because mesons are composed of quark subparticles ...

" * 1941 - Sir

Thomas Henry Holland Sir Thomas Henry Holland (22 November 1868 – 15 May 1947) was a British geologist who worked in India with the Geological Survey of India, serving as its director from 1903 to 1910. He later worked as an educational administrator at Edi ...

- "The Evolution of Continents" * 1943 - Harry Work Melville - "The Future of Synthetic Plastics" * 1945 -

Sydney Chapman Sydney Chapman may refer to: *Sir Sydney Chapman (economist) (1871–1951), British economist and civil servant * Sydney Chapman (mathematician) (1888–1970), FRS, British mathematician *Sir Sydney Chapman (politician) Sir Sydney Brookes Chapma ...

- "The Earth's Magnetism" * 1947 - G. M. B. Dobson - "Methods of Exploring in the Upper Atmosphere" * 1949 - Sir

Thomas Cockcroft Thomas Cockcroft (15 January 1916 – 19 September 1994) was a professional rugby league footballer. He played at club level for Keighley RLFC in the 1930s, and 1940s at . Personal life Cockcroft was born in the family home 6 May Street, Law ...

- "New Tools of Nuclear Physics" * 1951 -

Edmund Langley Hirst Sir Edmund Langley Hirst CBE FRS FRSE (21 July 1898 – 29 October 1975), was a British chemist. Life Hirst was born in Preston, Lancashire on 21 July 1898 the son of Elizabeth (née Langley) and Rev Sim Hirst (1856-1923) a Baptist minister. He ...

- "The Synthesis and Function of Sugars in Plant life" * 1953 - Sir

Edward Bullard Sir Edward Crisp Bullard FRS (21 September 1907 – 3 April 1980) was a British geophysicist who is considered, along with Maurice Ewing, to have founded the discipline of marine geophysics. He developed the theory of the geodynamo, pioneere ...

- "The Floor of the Ocean" * 1955 -

Charles Alfred Coulson Charles Alfred Coulson (13 December 1910 – 7 January 1974) was a British applied mathematician and theoretical chemist. Coulson's major scientific work was as a pioneer of the application of the quantum theory of valency to problems of mol ...

- "The Role of Wave Mechanics in Chemistry" * 1957 -

Martin Ryle Sir Martin Ryle (27 September 1918 – 14 October 1984) was an English radio astronomer who developed revolutionary radio telescope systems (see e.g. aperture synthesis) and used them for accurate location and imaging of weak radio sour ...

- "The Mullard

Radio Astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation comi ...

Observatory" * 1959 - Sir Richard Woolley - "Magellanic Clouds" * 1961 - Victor Eyles - "The Life and Work of Sir James Hall" * 1963 -

Brian Pippard Sir Alfred Brian Pippard, FRS (7 September 1920 – 21 September 2008), was a British physicist. He was Cavendish Professor of Physics from 1971 until 1982 and an Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, of which he was the first President. ...

- "The Geometry of Conduction Electrons" * 1965 -

Sir John Baker John Baker or Jon Baker may refer to: Military figures *John Baker (American Revolutionary War) (1731–1787), American Revolutionary War hero, for whom Baker County, Georgia was named *John Baker (RAF officer) (1897–1978), British air marshal ...

- "The Design of Steel-Framed Structures" * 1967 - J. J. Donner - "Late-Glacial and Post-Glacial Shorelines in Fenno-Scandia" * 1969 -

Denys Wilkinson Sir Denys Haigh Wilkinson FRS (5 September 1922 – 22 April 2016) was a British nuclear physicist. Life He was born on 5 September 1922 in Leeds, Yorkshire and educated at Loughborough Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge, gradua ...

- "Back to Socrates for a Terapound" * 1971 - Sir

George Porter George Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham (6 December 1920 – 31 August 2002) was a British chemist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967. Education and early life Porter was born in Stainforth, near Thorne, in the then We ...

- "Physical and Chemical Processes in Electronically Excited Molecules" * 1973 -

C. W. Oatley C. or c. may refer to: * Century, sometimes abbreviated as ''c.'' or ''C.'', a period of 100 years * Cent (currency), abbreviated ''c.'' or ''¢'', a monetary unit that equals of the basic unit of many currencies * Caius or Gaius, abbreviated as ...

- "Electron-Optical Imaging Devices" * 1975 - Sir Kingsley Dunham - "

Geothermal Energy Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pre ...

" * 1977 - Sir

Alan Cottrel Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname *Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *Al ...

- "Making the Most of Things" * 1979 -

John Frederick Dewey John Frederick Dewey FRS (born 22 May 1937) is a British structural geologist and a strong proponent of the theory of plate tectonics, building upon the early work undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s. He is widely regarded as an authority on the ...

- "The Origin of Mountain Ranges" * 1981 -

John Edwin Midwinter John Edwin Midwinter OBE FRS FREng (8 March 1938 – 13 November 2021) was a British electrical engineer and professor, who was President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (now IET) from 2000 to 2001. Education He was educated at St ...

- "The Success Story of Optical Communication" * 1983 - Sir

Peter Hirsch Sir Peter Bernhard Hirsch HonFRMS FRS (born 16 January 1925) is a figure in British materials science who has made fundamental contributions to the application of transmission electron microscopy to metals. Hirsch attended Sloane Grammar S ...

- "Materials Under the Microscope" * 1985 -

G. G. Roberts G is the seventh letter of the Latin alphabet. G may also refer to: Places * Gabon, international license plate code G * Glasgow, UK postal code G * Eastern Quebec, Canadian postal prefix G * Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, g ...

- "At Home with Science and Technology" * 1987 - Sir

John Meurig Thomas Sir John Meurig Thomas (15 December 193213 November 2020), also known as JMT, was a Welsh scientist, educator, university administrator, and historian of science primarily known for his work on heterogeneous catalysis, solid-state chemistry, a ...

- "The Genius of

Michael Faraday Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inductio ...

" There was no lecture in 1989 or 1991 and the rhythm of the lectures changed due to a five year gap. * 1992 - Philip Cohen - "The Role of Protein Phosphorylation in Cell Regulation and Human Disease" * 1994 -

George H. Denton George H. Denton (born 14 December 1939 in Medford, Massachusetts, USA) is a Professor of Geological Sciences and Quaternary Studies at the University of Maine. Biography Denton earned his Ph.D. at the Yale University in 1965, and was the first ...

- "What Drives Glacial Cycles?" * 1996 -

Colin R. McInnes Colin Robert McInnes is a Scottish engineer known for his work in solar sails. He is currently one of the leading figures in the field, being the author (or co-author) of over 50 solar sail papers since 2001. He also wrote a book on the subje ...

- "Setting Sail for Orbit: Solar Sail Spacecraft" * 1998 -

David Philip Lane Sir David Philip Lane (born 1 July 1952) is a British immunologist, molecular biologist and cancer researcher. He is currently working in the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at the Karolinska Institute and iChairman of C ...

- "The P53 Tumour Suppressor Gene" * 2000 -

Adrian Bird Sir Adrian Peter Bird, (born 3 July 1947) is a British geneticist and Buchanan Professor of Genetics at the University of Edinburgh. Bird has spent much of his academic career in Edinburgh, from receiving his PhD in 1970 to working at the ...

- "The Epigenetics of Disease" * 2002 - Sir

Keith O'Nions Sir Robert Keith O'Nions FRS HonFREng (born 26 September 1944), is a British scientist and ex-President & Rector of Imperial College London. He is the former Director General of the Research Councils UK as well as Professor of the Physics and ...

- "The Threat of Terrorism" * 2004 -

Jason Reese Jason Meredith Reese (24 June 1967 – 8 March 2019 was a British engineering scientist, and Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. His research was in multiscale flow systems in which the molecular or discrete natu ...

- "Disturbing the Equilibrium: The Challenge of Extreme Fluid Dynamics" * 2006 -

David Porteous David Porteous is a Canadian singer/songwriter, documentary filmmaker, music producer, photographer and comedy writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Porteous has written and recorded over 30 solo music releases, had his first radio play on CBC ...

- "Our Genetic Inheritance"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preller, Charles Sheibner du Riche 1844 births 1929 deaths Amateur geologists Engineers from Yorkshire British geologists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh British railway civil engineers