George John Singer (1786 – 28 June 1817) was an English early pioneer of electrical research, noted for his publications and for lectures delivered privately and at theRussell Institution.

Singer was the son of Thomas Singer, and the younger brother ofSamuel Weller Singer. In early life he was engaged in his mother's business of artificial-flower making. Every spare moment, however, he devoted to scientific study, more particularly to the investigation ofelectricity andelectromagnetism, then little known. He was a friend of and worked withAndrew Crosse, another early electrical pioneer.^[1] Singer built, almost unassisted, a large room at the back of his mother's house in Prince's Street,Cavendish Square, where he gave courses of lectures on electricity and kindred subjects. Among his audience wereMichael Faraday andSir Francis Ronalds.^[2]

Singer publishedElements of Electricity and Electro-chemistry, London, 1814, a work of considerable contemporary importance, which was translated into French (Paris, 1817), into Italian (Milan, 1819), and into German (Breslau, 1819). He also contributed several papers to thePhilosophical Magazine from 1813 to 1815, of which a list is given in Ronalds'sCatalogue of Books on Electricity, Magnetism, &c.^[2]

Singer made almost the whole of his apparatus himself, and introduced several enhancements. He invented an improved gold-leafelectrometer that was used widely for many years. A key feature was a new mode ofinsulating the wire connected to the leaves through the cap of the bottle, which he announced in 1811 and described in his book. Ronalds later put on record that the idea for the insulation was his.^[3][4]

Singer died, unmarried, of pulmonarytuberculosis, induced by overwork, on 28 June 1817, at his mother's house.

He lived in the Old House now known as Coundon Court Academy.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Singer, George John".Dictionary of National Biography. London:Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

• Elements of Electricity and Electro-chemistry by George Singer, 1814, from theInternet Archive

• 1786 births
• 1817 deaths
• 18th-century English people
• 19th-century English people
• British experimental physicists
• English inventors
• English physicists
• People associated with electricity

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