Thomas Turner Sc., A.R.S.M., F.R.I.C. (Birmingham, 1861–1951) was the first Professor of Metallurgy in Britain, at the University of Birmingham. The University was created in 1900 and the department founded in 1902. [1] He was instrumental in the early development of the sclerometer for testing hardness of metals. He retired in 1926. He was also a leading member of the Christadelphian church.
Turner was born in Ladywood, Birmingham in 1861. He married Christian Smith of Edinburgh in 1887 and had two sons and two daughters. He studied metallurgy at the Royal School of Mines in London, and won the annual De la Beche medal awarded in memory of the school's founder. Turner was demonstrator at Mason Science College from 1883, then 1887 lecturer in metallurgy, a new science that "was to develop greatly under his guidance during the next forty years." [2] From 1894-1902 he was Director of Technical Instruction to Staffordshire County Council, but in 1902 was chosen as the first Professor of Metallurgy in the newly established University of Birmingham. He retired in 1926 but continued to publish and lecture.
His most notable work was seminal research in the influence of silicon in cast iron. He was a founder member of, and later president of the Institute of Metals, vice president of the Iron and Steel Institute, and on the Advisory Committee of the Imperial Institute. He was awarded the Bessemer Gold Medal of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1925. [3]
Turner was active in the Christadelphian movement and for many years was first assistant editor, with Joseph Hadley, then editor of the Fraternal Visitor magazine of the Suffolk Street ecclesia. [4] In this function he was also involved in support of the Gemeinde in Germany, corresponding with Albert Maier and Ludwig von Gerdtell. As a hymn writer he contributed to his church's hymnal. [5]
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, opacity, and luster, but may have properties that differ from those of the pure metals, such as increased strength or hardness. In some cases, an alloy may reduce the overall cost of the material while preserving important properties. In other cases, the mixture imparts synergistic properties to the constituent metal elements such as corrosion resistance or mechanical strength.
The Christadelphians or Christadelphianism are a restorationist and millenarian Christian group who hold a view of biblical unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries. The movement developed in the United Kingdom and North America in the 19th century around the teachings of John Thomas, who coined the name Christadelphian from the Greek words for Christ (Christos) and brothers (adelphoi).
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impurities which allow cracks to pass straight through, grey cast iron has graphite flakes which deflect a passing crack and initiate countless new cracks as the material breaks, and ductile cast iron has spherical graphite "nodules" which stop the crack from further progressing.
The sclerometer, also known as the Turner-sclerometer, is an instrument used by metallurgists, material scientists and mineralogists to measure the scratch hardness of materials. It was invented in 1896 by Thomas Turner (1861–1951), the first Professor of metallurgy in Britain, at the University of Birmingham.
John Thomas was an English religious leader, the founder of the Christadelphian movement. He was a Restorationist, with doctrines similar in part to some 16th-century Antitrinitarian Socinians and the 16th-century Swiss-German pacifist Anabaptists.
The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) is a professional association for mining and metallurgy, with over 145,000 members. It was founded in 1871 by 22 mining engineers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States, being one of the first national engineering societies in the country. Its charter is to "advance and disseminate, through the programs of the Member Societies, knowledge of engineering and the arts and sciences involved in the production and use of minerals, metals, energy sources and materials for the benefit of humankind."
The Iron and Steel Institute was an English association organized by the iron trade of the north of England. Its object was the discussion of practical and scientific questions connected with the manufacture of iron and steel.
Robert Roberts is the man generally considered to have continued the work of organising and establishing the Christadelphian movement founded by Dr. John Thomas. He was a prolific author and the editor of The Christadelphian magazine from 1864 to 1898.
St. Mary's Church, Selly Oak is a Church of England parish church in Selly Oak, Birmingham, England.
The Martineau family is an intellectual, business and political dynasty associated first with Norwich and later also London and Birmingham, England. The family were prominent Unitarians; a room in London's Essex Hall, the headquarters building of the British Unitarians, was named after them. Martineau Place in Birmingham's Central Business District was named in their honour.
Mangalloy, also called manganese steel or Hadfield steel, is an alloy steel containing an average of around 13% manganese. Mangalloy is known for its high impact strength and resistance to abrasion once in its work-hardened state.
Charles Curwen Walker (1856–1940) was a Christadelphian writer and editor of The Christadelphian Magazine from 1898 to 1937.
Thomas Williams (1847–1913) was a Welsh Christadelphian who emigrated to America in 1872, and eventually became editor of The Christadelphian Advocate magazine and author of The Great Salvation and The World's Redemption, reserving him a place alongside Christadelphian founders Dr. John Thomas and Robert Roberts. When his appeals to English brethren went unheeded, he became the most prominent of the brethren who avoided these divisive factions, and later became known as Unamended Christadelphians because they never adopted a particular amendment to the Christadelphian statement of faith.
F. G. Jannaway was an English Christadelphian writer on Jewish settlement in Palestine, and notable for his role in the conscientious objector tribunals of World War I. His reaction to controversy was to separate from others in the name of purity, and he was instrumental in the formation of minority factions, such as the Berean Christadelphians. However, this reasoning eventually caused him to separate even from his own brother, A.T. Jannaway.
Friedrich Siegfried Heinrich Ludwig von Gerdtell was a German theologian associated with the Disciples of Christ movement.
John Percy FRS was an English metallurgist.
Robert Woolston Hunt was an American metallurgical engineer, inventor, and superintendent in the steel industry. He is known as president of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in 1883 and 1906; president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in the year 1891–92; and president of the Western Society of Engineers in 1893.
John Danks & Son was a major manufacturing company in Melbourne, Victoria and Sydney, New South Wales.
The earliest Christadelphian hymn book published was the "Sacred Melodist" which was published by Benjamin Wilson in Geneva, Illinois in 1860. The next was the hymn book published for the use of Baptised Believers in the Kingdom of God by George Dowie in Edinburgh in 1864. "The Golden Harp" was put together in 1864 by Scotsman Robert Roberts.