Abstract
THE death, in a flying accident on August 26, of Col. Bertram Hopkinson, C.M.G., F.R.S., professor of mechanism and applied mechanics in the University of Cambridge, is a grievous loss to science and the nation. Born in 1874, the eldest son of Dr. John Hopkinson, F.R.S., he inherited not a little of his father's scientific insight and genius for bringing science to bear on practical matters. This hereditary aptitude was fostered by close contact with his father's mind in early life; he was his father's frequent companion in work as well as in play. Bertram lived at home, attending St. Paul's School until he went to Trinity, where he took the Mathematical Tripos. An unlucky illness compelled him to take an ægrotat degree in the First Part; but he showed his quality in the Second Part, when he was placed in the First Division of the First Class. He then read for the Bar, devilling in a well-known counsel's chambers, and had been “called” when the tragic death of his father, along with a younger brother and two sisters, while climbing near Arolla in 1898, changed the current of his life. He boldly took up his father's business as a consulting electrical engineer, in association with his uncle, Mr. Charles Hopkinson, and Mr. Talbot, a former assistant. With them he carried out various tramway undertakings during the next four or five years.
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EWING, J. Prof. Bertram Hopkinson, F.R.S. . Nature 102, 8–9 (1918). https://doi.org/10.1038/102008a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/102008a0