Arthur E. Kennelly
| Arthur Edwin Kennelly | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 17, 1861 |
| Died | June 18, 1939 (aged 77) |
| Residence | United States |
| Nationality | Irish American |
| Fields | Electrical engineering |
| Notable awards |
AIEE Edison Medal (1933) IRE Medal of Honor (1932) Howard N. Potts Medal (1918) Edward Longstreth Medal (1917) |
Arthur Edwin Kennelly (December 17, 1861 – June 18, 1939), was an Irish-American electrical engineer.
Kennelly was born December 17, 1861 in Colaba, in South Mumbai, India and was educated at University College School in London. He was the son of an Irish naval officer Captain David Joseph Kennelly (1831–1907) and Catherine Gibson Heycock (1839–1863). His mother died when he was three years old. Afterwards, in 1863, his father retired from the navy and later Arthur and his father returned to England. In 1878, his father remarried to Ellen L.Spencer and moved the family to Sydney, Nova Scotia on the island of Cape Breton when he took over the Sydney and Louisbourg Coal and Railway Company Limited. By his father's third marriage, Arthur gained four half siblings, Zaida Kennelly in 1881, David J. Kennelly Jr. in 1882, Nell K. Kennelly in 1883, and Spencer M. Kennelly in 1885.
Kennelly joined Thomas Edison's West Orange laboratory in December 1887, staying until March 1894. While there he had a role in the war of currents, assisting anti-alternating current crusader Harold P. Brown in developing a demonstration to show how alternating current was more dangerous than direct current (via electrocuting dogs) as well as a further test to help determine the type of electricity that should be used in the electric chair, convincing the officials present that it should be alternating current.
Kennelly then formed a consulting firm in electrical engineering with Edwin Houston. Together they wrote Alternating Electric Currents (1895), Electrical Engineering leaflets (1896), and Electric arc lighting (1902). In 1893, during his research in electrical engineering, he presented a paper on "Impedance" to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE). He researched the use of complex numbers as applied to Ohm's Law in alternating current circuit theory. In 1902, he investigated the ionosphere's radio spectrum's electrical properties, resulting in the concept of the Kennelly–Heaviside layer. Also in 1902 Kennelly was given the entire engineering charge of the expedition which laid Mexican submarine cables on the route Vera Cruz–Frontera–Campeche; he also served as inspector for the Mexican Government during the manufacture of the cable. He was a professor of electrical engineering at Harvard University, 1902–1930, and jointly at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1913–1924. One of his PhD students was Vannevar Bush.
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