Famous Orcadians - Science and Technology
Sir Thomas Clouston | James Petrie Chalmers | Andrew Thomson and James Drever | Alexander Malcomson
Scotland is traditionally renowned for its excellence within the fields of science and technology, and Orkney is no different. Below are some of Orkney's most prominent and celebrated people in disciplines of science and technology.
Sir Thomas Clouston (1840-1915)
Thomas Clouston born in 1840, Orkney went on to pioneer the treatment
of mental illness. He was educated at Edinburgh University and worked
as medical superintendent of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Asylum and then
Physician Superintendent of the Scottish Metropolitan Asylum for the Insane.
It was his published book of lectures on mental disease that
established his reputation.
James Petrie Chalmers (1866-1912)
"one of the most important pioneers in the history of cinema"
- quote taken from http://www.orcadian.co.uk/features/articles/
jamespetriechalmers.htm
James Petrie Chalmers was born in Tankerness in 1866 but left Orkney for New York as a young man. There, in 1907, he launched and edited the world's first film magazine, "The Moving Picture World". Through his work on the magazine and he took the opportunity to campaign for the new technology to become a form of popular entertainment, art and education. Through the legal system he managed to loosen Thomas Edison's tight grip on the industry and indeed without Chalmers the modern cinematic industry may not even exist today. He tragically died in Ohio, in 1912, when he opened a wrong door and fell down an elevator shaft.
Andrew Thomson and James Drever
Andrew Thomson and James Drever are perhaps not widely known as inventors.
However, it is thought that these two Orkney men invented the suspender.
They immigrated to America where they registered a patent (Cal 567,421)
on the 8th September 1896. This patent was a little clasp
fastener, which was originally used to hold up dungarees, but went
on to clasp the stocking to the suspender.
Their story still remains a bit of a mystery but Mr Drever is thought to have stayed in the US whereas Mr Thomson returned to Orkney.
Alexander Malcomson
Alexander Malcolmson was the real founder of the Ford
Motor Company. He was born near Longhope, Orkney, little is known about his
early life. But he went on to become one of the largest coal dealers in
Detroit. He had several branches and certainly had interest in or owned
a coalfield in West Virginia and a plant in Toledo, Ohio.
His interest in the Ford Motor Company was not as a mechanic but as a new and additional business endeavour and he took no active part in management. Malcomson agreed in 1902 to invest $3,000 towards the development of Ford's car, beginning with a payment of $500. Over the next six months the investment grew to $7,000. He was forced out in 1906 and sold his shares to Ford on 12th July 1906 for $175,000.
Without Malcomson's financial backing the multi-national company may never have got of the ground.