Biographical entry Threlfall, Richard (1861 - 1932)

Summary

(Sir) Richard Threlfall was Professor of Physics, University of Sydney 1886-98 and was later scientific adviser for Albright & Wilson Co., Birmingham, England, 1898-1932.

Details

Events

1881 - 1882

Education - Studies (PhD?) at the University of Strasbourg, Austria

1884

Education - Bachelor of Art (BA) completed at the University of Cambridge, UK

1884 - 1886

Career position - Demonstrator in the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge

1886 - 1898

Career position - Professor of Physics at the University of Sydney

1888

Education - Master of Art (MA) completed at the University of Cambridge

1890

Career position - President of Section A of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science

1894 - 1895

Career position - President of the Royal Society of New South Wales

1898 - 1932

Career position - Scientific Adviser at Albright & Wilson Co.in Birmingham, UK

1914 - 1918

Career position - Board Member of Invention and Research, UK

1917

Award - Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)

1927

Award - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE)

1929

Award - Gold medal received from the Society of Chemical Industry

Archival resources

University of Sydney, Archives

• Richard Threlfall - Records, 1885 - 1962, P 28; University of Sydney, Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

• Threlfall, Richard, On Laboratory Arts, Macmillan, London, 1898, (xii) + 338 + 2 pp. ads. pp. Details

Book Sections

• Home, R. W., 'Threlfall, Sir Richard (1861-1932), Physicist and Chemical Engineer', in John Ritchie (ed.), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 12, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1990, pp. 220-221. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120243b.htm. Details
• Home, R.W., 'Sir Richard Threlfall, 1861-1932', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004. Details

Journal Articles

• Threlfall, R., 'Notes on the Theory of Dissociation of Gases', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. 20, Acting Government Printer, Sydney, 1886, pp. 213-217. Details
• Threlfall, R., 'On an effect produced by the passage of an electric discharge through pure nitrogen', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, vol. 40, Printed by Taylor and Francis, London, 1886, pp. 329-340. Details
• Threlfall, R., 'Some experiments on the production of ozone', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, vol. 40, Printed by Taylor and Francis, London, 1886, pp. 340-342. Details
• Threlfall, R., 'On the Purification of Certain Substances', Report of the Second Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, vol. 2, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Sydney, 1890, p. 395. Details
• Threlfall, R., 'Note on Some Products from the Fruit of Pittosporum undulatum and from the Leaves of the Pepper Tree (Schinus molle)', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. 29, Acting Government Printer, Sydney, 1895, pp. 456-461. Details
• Threlfall, R. and Allen, J. Bernard, 'Experiments on Some Electrical Properties of Purified Sulphur', Report of the Seventh Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, vol. 7, Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, Sydney, 1898, pp. 245-258. Details
• Threlfall, Richard, 'On the Specific heats of the Vapours of Acetic acid and Nitrogen Tetroxide', The Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, vol. 23, 1887, pp. 223-224. Details
• Threlfall, Richard, 'The Electrical Properties of Pure Substances. Part I. The Preparation of Pure Nitrogen and Attempts to Condense It', The Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, vol. 35, 1893, pp. 1-35. Details
• Threlfall, Richard, 'A Contribution to the Study of Oxygen at Low Pressures', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. 31, Acting Government Printer, Sydney, 1897, pp. 79-82. Details
• Threlfall, Richard, 'obituary of Richard Threlfall in presidential address by W.R. Browne', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. 67, Acting Government Printer, Sydney, 1933, pp. 6-7. Details
• Threlfall, Richard and Brearley, Joseph Henry Drapier, 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances. No.1. The electrical properties of pure sulphur', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, vol. 187, Royal Society of London, London, 1896, pp. 57-150. Details
• Threlfall, Richard and Pollock, Arthur (sic, James Arthur), 'On Measurements of the Resistance of Imperfectly Purified Sulphur', The Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, vol. 28, 1889, pp. 469-473. Details
• Threlfall, Richard, Brearley, Joseph Henry Drapier and Allen, J.B., 'Researches on the electrical properties of pure substances. No 1. The electrical properties of pure sulphur', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, vol. 56, Printed by Taylor and Francis, London, 1894, pp. 32-40. Details
• Threlfall, Sir Richard, 'Sir Richard Threlfall', Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol. 1, Harrison & Sons, London, 1932, pp. 45-52. Details

Online Resources

• 'Threlfall, Richard', in Physics in Australia to 1945, R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham, Australian Science Archives Project, June 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/physics/P000831p.htm. Details
• National Library of Australia, 'Threlfall, Richard', Trove, National Library of Australia and the Australian National Maritime Museum Darling Harbour, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1016602. Details

See also

• Bolton, H. C., 'Optical Instruments in Australia in the 1939-45 War: successes and lost opportunities', Australian Physicist, 1990, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/exhib/papers/bolton2.htm. Details