John Angus Erskine (28 January 1873 – 27 April 1960,

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

) was a New Zealand educated physicist, electrical engineer, benefactor, and

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

master. Born in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , ) is the southernmost and westernmost list of cities in New Zealand, city in New Zealand, and one of the Southernmost settlements, southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland Region, Southlan ...

on 28 January 1873, he was a son of Robert Erskine, who migrated from

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to Southland, New Zealand, at the age of 16. Jack was educated at South School, and became the first Southland youth to win a Junior Scholarship to the University of New Zealand in 1890. The next year, he chose to enrol at

Canterbury College Canterbury College may refer to: * Canterbury College (Indiana), U.S. * Canterbury College (Waterford), Queensland, Australia * Canterbury College (Windsor, Ontario), Canada * Canterbury College, Kent, England * Canterbury College, Oxford, England ...

(now University of Canterbury). He passed his final B.A. exams in 1893. With the start of the new term in April 1894,

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who was a pioneering researcher in both Atomic physics, atomic and nuclear physics. He has been described as "the father of nu ...

and J.A. Erskine applied to use a basement room in which to carry out electrical experiments. It was here that Erskine investigated the magnetic screening of high-frequency oscillations by various metals, an offshoot of Rutherford's pioneering work. Results of his research appeared in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute in 1895. In 1896 Erskine won an 1851 Exhibition Scholarship and opted to study in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat. In 1897, he and Rutherford holidayed together in Germany and year 1897 and part of 1898 Erskine was at the University of Leipzig. He then moved to London and spent 1899 and 1900 there, attending classes at University College and translating German works into English. In 1901, Erskine returned to New Zealand to work as a boiler stoker. He then began working in the electrical industry, first in the United States (1903–1904), and then Australia (1905–1920). After 1920 he worked as a private consultant in Melbourne. He won the

New Zealand Chess Championship The New Zealand Chess Championship is an annual open tournament played to determine the country's chess champion. It is organised by the New Zealand Chess Federation. The first installment of the championship was held in Christchurch in 1879, and ...

twice; at Wellington 1928/29 (with a 100% score, 8/8) and Christchurch 1934/35.

Erskine Fellowship

Erskine bequeathed his estate worth £254,794 to the University of Canterbury to be held in trust to fund international exchanges of academic staff. Each year, approximately 70 Erskine fellows travel to Christchurch for periods of up to three months (with travel and per diem allowance funded) and approximately 25 Canterbury academics are funded to travel to overseas institutions.

References

External links

Erskine's 1895 paper to the Royal Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erskine, Jack 1873 births 1960 deaths New Zealand chess players Australian chess players University of Canterbury alumni