Pender Chair
Encyclopedia
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
.
John Pender
(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
(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:
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
.
John Pender
John Pender
Sir John Pender , British Submarine communications cable pioneer, was born in the Vale of Leven, Scotland, and after attending school in Glasgow became a successful merchant in textile fabrics in that city and in Manchester; where he had a warehouse in Peter street near The Great Northern Warehouse...
(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
John Ambrose Fleming
Sir John Ambrose Fleming was an English electrical engineer and physicist. He is known for inventing the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, the diode, then called the kenotron in 1904. He is also famous for the left hand rule...
(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:
- 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 re-name 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: John Ambrose FlemingJohn Ambrose FlemingSir John Ambrose Fleming was an English electrical engineer and physicist. He is known for inventing the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, the diode, then called the kenotron in 1904. He is also famous for the left hand rule...
- 1926-1934: Wellesley Curram Clinton
- 1935-1945: Reginald Otto Kapp
- 1945-1950: G.T.R. Hill
- 1950-1966: Harold BarlowHarold BarlowHarold Everard Monteagle Barlow FRS was a British engineer.He was born in Islington, London, the son of Leonard Barlow, an electrical engineer. He entered University College, London where, apart from the WWII years , he spent most of his working life...
- 1966-1979: Alexander Lamb CullenAlexander Lamb CullenAlexander Lamb Cullen, FRS was a British electrical engineer.He was awarded an OBE in 1960.He was the Head of Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at University College London, held the Pender Chair, from 1967 to 1980....
- 1979-1986: Eric AshEric AshSir Eric Albert Ash, CBE is a distinguished German-born British electrical engineer and past Rector of Imperial College.Born in Berlin, Ash emigrated with his family to Britain in 1938 to escape Nazism...
- 1986-1987: David (DEN) DaviesDavid (DEN) DaviesDavid Evan Naunton Davies, known as Den Davies or David 'DEN' Davies, is a British electrical engineer and educator.1985-1988: Head of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at University College London , and holder of the Pender Chair, having already been lecturing there, in...
- 1987-1991: vacant
- 1991-2002: John E. Midwinter
- 2002-2009: vacant
- 2009- now: Michael PepperMichael PepperSir Michael Pepper FRS FInstP is a British physicist notable for his work in semiconductor nanostructures.-Education:Sir Michael went to school at St Marylebone Grammar, then gained a BSc and PhD from the University of Reading and an MA and ScD from Cambridge University.-Career:Sir Michael was a...