Thomas Lomar Gray (4 February 1850 – 19 December 1908) was a Scottish engineer noted for his pioneering work in

seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

Early life

Born in Lochgelly,

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

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 ...

, Gray graduated in 1878 from the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

with a BSc in engineering. At Glasgow, he awarded th
Cleland Medal
for "An Experimental Determination of Magnetic Moments in Absolute Measurements.".Rose Polytechnic Institute. (1909).

Career

At the recommendation of

John Milne John Milne (30 December 1850 – 31 July 1913) was a British geologist and mining engineer who worked on a horizontal seismograph. Biography Milne was born in Liverpool, England, the only child of John Milne of Milnrow, and at first raised ...

, he was hired by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

as a foreign advisor and arrived in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

in 1879 to assume to post of Professor of Telegraph Engineering in the Physical Laboratories at the

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

. Later, while working at the

Imperial College of Engineering The Imperial College of Engineering (工部大学校, ''Kōbudaigakkō'') was a Empire of Japan, Japanese institution of higher education that was founded during the Meiji era. The college was established under the auspices of the Ministry of P ...

in Tokyo, he helped John Milne and

James Alfred Ewing Sir James Alfred Ewing MInstitCE (27 March 1855 − 7 January 1935) was a Scottish physicist and engineer, best known for his work on the magnetic properties of metals and, in particular, for his discovery of, and coinage of the word, ''hy ...

develop the first modern

seismometer A seismometer is an instrument that responds to ground displacement and shaking such as caused by quakes, volcanic eruptions, and explosions. They are usually combined with a timing device and a recording device to form a seismograph. The out ...

s from 1880 to 1895. Although all three men worked as a team on the invention and use of seismographs, John Milne is generally credited with the invention of the first modern horizontal-pendulum seismograph. Gray joined Milne and Ewing in founding the Seismological Society of Japan (SSJ) in 1880. Gray served as Private Assistant to Sir William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Professor of Natural Philosophy in Glasgow University from 1884 to 1887. Thomson also proposed Gray as a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) 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 establis ...

(FRSE) Among Gray's colleagues in Japan was Thomas C. Mendenhall. Inn 1888, Mendenhall encouraged him to join the faculty of Rose Polytechnic Institute of Technology, now Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in Vigo County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 58,389 and Terre Haute metropolitan area, its metropolitan area had a populati ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. His title was Professor of Dynamic Engineering. He was vice president of Rose Polytechnic from 1891 through 1908. He died on 19 December 1908 and is commemorated in a plaque by the entrance to the old drill hall in LochgellyPlaque commemorating Thomas Gray and Andrew Gray

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Notes

References

* Clancy, Gregory. (2006). ''Earthquake Nation: The Cultural Politics of Japanese Seismicity, 1868–1930.'' Berkeley: University of California Press.
OCLC 219039402
* Herbert-Gustar, A. Leslie and Patrick A. Nott. (1980). ''John Milne, Father of Modern Seismology.'' Tenterden: Paul Norbury.
OCLC 476242679
* Richter, Charles F. (1958). ''Elementary Seismology.'' San Francisco: W.H. Freeman
OCLC 503991062
* Rose Polytechnic Institute. (1909). ''Rose Polytechnic Institute: memorial volume embracing a history of the Institute, a sketch of the founder, together with a biographical dictionary and other matters of interest.'' Terre Haute, Indiana:
OCLC 2574674
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Thomas Lomar 1850 births 1908 deaths People from Lochgelly Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scottish engineers Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-era Japan Foreign educators in Japan Scottish expatriates in Japan