The Pender Chair is the post that is generally held by the head of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering of

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 ...

John Pender Sir John Pender KCMG GCMG FSA FRSE (10 September 1816 – 7 July 1896) was a Scottish submarine communications cable pioneer and politician. Early life Pender was born in the Vale of Leven, Scotland, the son of James Pender and his wife, Mar ...

(pictured in the caricature on the right), the founder of Cable and Wireless, died in 1896. The Pender Memorial Committee was formed, and collected £6,277 in his memorial. Of this, they decided to donate £5,000 to the Department of Electrical Technology of University College, to enable an expansion of its facilities. This included the founding of the Pender Laboratory, and the inauguration of the Pender Chair. The Department of Electrical Technology had already been formed some years earlier, in 1885, with

John Ambrose Fleming Sir John Ambrose Fleming (29 November 1849 – 18 April 1945) was an English electrical engineer who invented the vacuum tube, designed the radio transmitter with which the first transatlantic radio transmission was made, and also established ...

(pictured below) as its head. He, therefore, became the first incumbent of the Pender Chair of Electrical Engineering. The following references can be found, in the Council Minutes:Council Minutes (2 November 1895, 25 November 1895, 5 December 1896, 9 January 1897), University College London. * 2 November 1895: Letter received from the Technical Education Board offering a grant of £1500 for the improvement of Engineering Teaching. * 25 November 1895: Proposal to endow a Chair of Electrical Engineering as part of a memorial to the late Sir John Pender. * 5 December 1896: Receipt of a Memorandum from the Pender Memorial Committee offering to put the sum of £5,000 in trust with UCL to fund a new Electrical Engineering Laboratory, to be named the Pender Laboratory, and to rename the existing chair of Electrical Engineering the Pender Chair of Electrical Engineering. * 9 January 1897: Mr Swan nominated to represent the Council on the Pender Memorial Committee.

Pender Professors of Electrical Engineering at UCL

* 1899-1925:

* 1926-1934: Wellesley Curram Clinton * 1935–1945: Reginald Otto Kapp * 1945-1950: G.T.R. Hill * 1950-1966: Harold Barlow * 1966-1979:

Alexander Lamb Cullen Alexander Lamb Cullen, (30 April 1920 – 27 December 2013) was a British electrical engineer and academic who was a professor at University College London. Career and research In 1955, Cullen was appointed as the first Professor of Elec ...

* 1979-1986: Eric Ash * 1986-1987: David (DEN) Davies * 1987-1991: vacant * 1991-2002: John Edwin Midwinter * 2002-2009: vacant * 2009- now: Michael Pepper

References

External links

Web page for the history of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, at University College London

{{University College London, academics Engineering education in the United Kingdom Professorships in engineering Professorships at University College London