Alexander Thom

Alexander "Sandy" Thom (26 March 1894 – 7 November 1985) was a Scottish engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard, categorisation of stone circles and his studies of Stonehenge and other archaeological sites.

Thom was born in Carradale in 1894. His mother was Lily Stevenson Strang from the family of Robert Louis Stevenson. Her mother (Thom's grandmother) belonged to a large family from Symington, upon whom had been bestowed the land by Robert the Bruce. His father was a clever tenant farmer at Mains farm for Carradale House. His father trained the Church choir while his mother was pianist. Thom spent his early years at Mains farm until moving to The Hill farm at Dunlop, Ayrshire. Instilled with a good work ethic by his father, Thom taught himself industrial engineering and entered college in Glasgow in 1911 where he studied alongside John Logie Baird. In 1912 he attended summer school at Loch Eck where he was trained in surveying and field astronomy by Dr. David Clark and Professor Moncur. In 1913, aged just 19, he assisted in surveying the Canadian Pacific Rail Network.

Thom graduated from the Royal College of Science and Technology and the University of Glasgow in 1914, earning a BSc with special distinction in Engineering. He suffered from a heart murmur and was not drafted during the First World War. Instead he went to work in civil engineering of the Forth Bridge and later designed flying boats for the Gosport Aircraft Company. In 1917 he married Jeanie Kirkwood with whom he shared a long and lively marriage. He returned to the University of Glasgow and worked as a lecturer from 1922 to 1939, quickly earning his PhD and DSc degrees. He built his own home called Thalassa in 1922, along with a windmill to power it with electricity. His father died in 1924 and he took over running the farm where he fathered three children, Archibald, Beryl and Alan. Thom helped to develop the Department of Aeronautics at Glasgow University and lectured on statistics, practical field surveying, theodolite design and astronomy. From 1930 to 1935 he was a Carnegie Teaching Fellow. During the Second World War, Thom moved to Fleet in Hampshire where he was appointed Principal Scientific Officer heading the Royal Aircraft Establishment team that developed the first high speed wind tunnel.

...
Wikipedia