Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse (1816 - January 26, 1890) was an English surgeon, better-known for his ultimately unsuccessful endeavours at electrical engineering on the transatlantic telegraph cable. 1816 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1890 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Ethnicity... Surgery Surgery is the medical specialty that treats diseases or injuries by operative manual and instrumental treatment. ... Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline that deals with the study and application of electricity and electromagnetism. ... Cyrus Field was the instigator of the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable between North America and Europe August 5th 1858. ...

Life

Born Liverpool, son of a merchant, he qualified as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1840 and established a successful practice in Brighton. Liverpools skyline, as seen from the River Mersey. ... Merchants function as professional traders, dealing in commodities that they do not produce themselves. ... The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an independent professional body committed to promoting and advancing the highest standards of surgical care for patients. ... 1840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Brighton on the southern Sussex coast is one of the largest and most famous seaside resorts in England. ...

In the 1850s, he conducted experiments that, he held, showed that feared problems with practical data rates on underwater cables would not prohibit a commercial service. Though his claims were disputed by William Thomson, he was an able propagandist for the undertakers of a proposed transatlantic cable. Events and Trends Technology Production of steel revolutionised by invention of the Bessemer process Benjamin Silliman fractionates petroleum by distillation for the first time First transatlantic telegraph cable laid First safety elevator installed by Elisha Otis Science Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species, putting forward the theory of evolution... In telecommunication, data signaling rate (DSR) is the aggregate rate at which data pass a point in the transmission path of a data transmission system. ... The SI base unit of temperature, the kelvin, is named after him. ...

Cyrus Field recruited Whitehouse as chief electrician to the Atlantic Telegraph Company; Thomson subsequently became scientific advisor, convinced that Whitehouse's theories were wrong but believing him to have the practical skill to make the scheme work. Cyrus West Field (November 30, 1819–July 11/12, 1892) was an American businessman and financier who led a company that successfully laid the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean in 1858. ... The Atlantic Telegraph Company was a company formed in 1856 to undertake and exploit a commercial telegraph cable across the Atlantic ocean, the first such telecommunications link. ...

When the cable finally opened for business, it was beset with the problems that Thomson had foreseen. Whitehouse's inadequate apparatus had to be replaced by Thomson's more sensitive mirror galvanometer and Whitehouse succeded in fatally damaging the cable by delivering massive shocks of 2,000 volt in an attempt to rectify the problems. Whitehouse continually maintained that the cable and his equipment were a success. Though he put up a desperate public defence of his conduct and was more than ready to apportion blame among all other parties, an 1861 enquiry concluded that he should bear the majority of the responsibility. A mirror galvanometer A mirror galvanometer is a mechanical meter that senses electric current, except that instead of moving a needle, it moves a mirror. ... The volt is the SI derived unit for electric potential and voltage (derived from the ampere and watt). ... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ...

Bibliography

Biography

• Obituaries:
  • The Electrician, January 31, 1890, 319
  • The Times, January 29, 1890, 1
  • Daily Telegraph, January 30, 1890, 1
  • The Lancet, February 1, 1890, 277
• "Board of Trade Committee to Inquire into … Submarine Telegraph Cables’, Parl. papers (1860), 52.591, no. 2744
• Bright, C. (1898) Submarine Telegraphs: Their History, Construction, and Working
• de Cogan, D. (1985) "Dr E.O.W. Whitehouse and the 1858 transatlantic cable", History of Technology, 10, 1–15
• Hunt, B.J. (1996) "Scientists, engineers and Wildman Whitehouse: measurement and credibility in early cable telegraphy", British Journal for the History of Science, 29 155–69
• Smith, C. & Wise M.N. (1989) Energy and Empire: A Biographical Study of Lord Kelvin
• Thompson, S.P. (1910) The Life of William Thomson, Baron Kelvin of Largs, 2 vols.

Works

• Whitehouse, E.O.W. (1856) "The law of squares: is it applicable or not to the transmission of signals in submarine circuits ?", The Athenaeum, January 30, 1092
• Whitehouse, E.O.W. (1855) "Report on a series of experimental observations"
• Whitehouse, E.O.W (1858) The Atlantic Telegraph: The Rise, Progress, and Development of its Electrical Department

External links

• Hunt, B.J. (2004) "Whitehouse, (Edward Orange) Wildman (1816-1890)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47160, accessed 24 July 2005> (subscription required)
• Wildman's defence of his conduct