Sir John Percival Vissing Madsen FAA (24 March 1879 – 4 October 1969) was an

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academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

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engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

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and

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. John Percival Vissing Madsen
sydney.edu.auJohn Percival Vissing Madsen, Kt, DSc, FAA
Australian Academy of ScienceMadsen, John Percival Vaissing, (Sir) (1879–1969)
Trove ''Chairman of the Radio Research Board'' This history of Madsen'sBiographical entry from Encyclopedia of Australian Science http://www.eoas.info/biogs/P000614b.htm activities in Australian science and engineering covers the period 1900–1956 during which applications of electricity, X-ray analysis, standardised measurements for production, radio propagation, radar and radio astronomy, nuclear physics and digital computers made tremendous progress in part due to major advances in fundamental research & also the heightened activity due to two world wars. Central to these activities largely carried out at

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, was the Electrical Engineering Department & the

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

National Standards Laboratory/ Radiophysics Laboratory (now The Madsen Building Madsen Building listed as a heritage place at NSW Government Office Environment and Heritage website http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=4726029 in the University grounds. Madsen's roles encompassed the positions of Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Professor and Emeritus Professor from 1909 up to 1956 when he finally retired as Chairman of the Radio Research Board which he founded in 1927. Until 1946 Madsen was the first and only Professor of Electrical Engineering in any Australian University.

Early life

Madsen was born at

Lochinvar Lochinvar (or Lan Var) is a loch in the civil parish of Dalry in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway Scotland. It is located in the Galloway Hills, around north-east of St. John's Town of Dalry. The loch formerly ...

, in the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its ...

, New South Wales.John Percival Vissing Madsen 1879–1969
Brightsparcs, unimelb.edu.au, originally published in Records of the Australian Academy of Science, vol 2, no 1, Nov 1970. Madsen attended Sydney High School and was Dux of the school. Madsen graduated from

with first class honours and University Medals in both Science and Engineering in 1900 and then 1901 when he read physics and mathematics establishing the practice of taking the double degree of BSc and BE and he himself embarking on a lifelong career of applying physics to the foundations of engineering.

Career

In 1901, Madsen was appointed lecturer in mathematics and physics at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

, where he came under the influence of Professor

William Henry Bragg Sir William Henry Bragg (2 July 1862 – 12 March 1942) was an English physicist and X-ray crystallographer who uniquelyThis is still a unique accomplishment, because no other parent-child combination has yet shared a Nobel Prize (in any fiel ...

with whom he co-operated with and became a lifelong friend. first published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, (MUP), 1986 In 1909, Madsen's interest in the practical application of science led him to accept a lectureship in engineering at the University of Sydney, where he became assistant professor in 1912. In recognition of the outstanding Australian radio work done in the previous 25 years the Xth General Assembly was held at Sydney University in August 1952. Madsen was Chairman of the Australian Organising Committee and was also elected President of the Xth Assembly. In 1956, there was great concern in the West that the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

had taken a significant lead in scientific training of its engineers following the detonation of its hydrogen bomb

soviet atomic bomb project The Soviet atomic bomb project was authorized by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union to develop nuclear weapons during and after World War II. Russian physicist Georgy Flyorov suspected that the Allied powers were secretly developing a " superwea ...

and the soon to follow

Sputnik 1 Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program ...

. To address the situation in Australia, Madsen published a paper through Sydney University setting out recommendations for manpower requirements in the scientific era touching greatly on his own experience of the previous 50 years of promoting engineering with science. In the post war period to the end of the twentieth century, there was a significant change in emerging technology policies moving from a mainly government sponsored "supply" side environment to a business orientated "demand" side market."

Personal life

Madsen was the eldest of the family of four sons and two daughters of Hans Frandsen Madsen and his wife Annie (née Bush). His father, Hans Madsen, born in Denmark, migrated to Australia in 1864 and, while working as a miner, became one of the first pupils of the Ballarat School of Mines. originally published in Records of the Australian Academy of Science, vol.2, no.1, 1970.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madsen, John Percival Vissing Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science 1879 births 1969 deaths Australian physicists Australian electrical engineers Australian mathematicians Australian Army officers Knights Bachelor University of Sydney alumni Academic staff of the University of Adelaide People educated at Sydney Boys High School People from Maitland, New South Wales Academic staff of the University of Sydney Australian people of Danish descent