Abstract
THE thirteenth Duddell Medal of the Physical Society was presented on February 7 to Dr. C. V. Drysdale, who is distinguished for his outstanding work in connexion with electrical and optical instruments. Dr. Drysdale was responsible for the design of the first accurate single-phase standard wattmeters in 1901, following them immediately by the first double wattmeters for polyphase measurements, and a few years later by accurate phase-shifting transformers for wattmeter and supply meter testing. In 1909 he adapted the phase-shifting transformer to the design of the first alternating and direct current potentiometer, and devised a vibration galvanometer and low inductance resistance standards which enables that instrument to be used for standardising purposes as well as for general testing, applying it particularly to transmission in telephone circuits. He was also responsible for other electrical standardising apparatus. In 1899, he took charge of the Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics Department of the Northampton Institute, Clerkenwell, and in the following year started the first Technical Optics Department at the Northampton Institute, with a lens grinding workshop. Then came a period of active research in optics, and including the design of lens systems, a universal optical bench for the rapid testing of spherical and cylindrical lens, etc.
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Dr. C. V. Drysdale, C.B., C.B.E.. Nature 137, 266 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137266a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137266a0