Carey Foster
| George Carey Foster | |
|---|---|
George Carey Foster
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| Born |
October , 1835 Sabden England |
| Died | February 9, 1919 (aged 83) |
| Nationality | English |
| Fields | Chemistry, physics |
| Institutions | University College, London |
| Alma mater | University College, London |
| Doctoral students | Oliver Lodge, William Edward Ayrton , John Ambrose Fleming, Viramu Jones |
George Carey Foster (October 1835 – 9 February 1919) was a chemist and physicist, born at Sabden in Lancashire. He was Professor of Physics at University College London, and served as the first Principal (salaried head) of the College) from 1900 to 1904.
He was the only son of George Foster, calico printer and justice of the peace in Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. After education at private schools Foster became a student of chemistry at University College, London. He graduated with honours and a prize in 1855 and then served at the college as an assistant in Professor Williamson's chemistry laboratory.
In 1857 Foster joined the British Association for the Advancement of Science, presented his research on the nomenclature of organic chemistry at their meeting, and maintained a close involvement thereafter. From 1858 he undertook research in organic chemistry under Kekulé at Ghent, later moving to Paris and Heidelberg. Having further pursued the study of heat, light, and electricity, introduced to him by Williamson, in 1862 he was appointed professor of natural philosophy at Anderson's University in Glasgow. During three years there Foster became familiar with the student assisted research undertaken at the natural philosophy laboratory run by William Thomson at Glasgow University. He met Mary Ann Frances Muir of Greenock, whom he married in 1868; his happy marriage produced four sons and four daughters, all of whom survived him, the partnership ending with his wife's death in 1917.
University College, London, appointed Foster as professor of experimental physics (physics from 1867) in August 1865; there he became a much respected if not especially effective lecturer. Although to some extent modelled on Thomson's archetype in Glasgow, Foster's first achievement was to establish a students' physical laboratory in 1866, the first in Britain to offer systematic instruction in experimental physics to undergraduates. In the same year Foster was invited to join the BAAS committee on electrical standards, and often chaired its meetings. Working with other leading figures in physics and telegraphy such as Thomson, Wheatstone, Fleeming Jenkin, and C. W. Siemens, he acquired much expertise in precision techniques of electrical measurement, especially of resistance and determining current flow, and induction, in relation to the problems of telegraphy.
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