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Robert Bowie Owens (October 29, 1870 – November 3, 1940) was aU.S.electrical engineer. He was the director of theMaryland Academy of Science. He was secretary ofFranklin Institute from 1910 to 1924. He is credited as a discoverer of thealpha ray.[1]
He was born October 29, 1870. Owens was a graduate of the Industrial College ofJohns Hopkins University andColumbia University.
On August 19, 1891 he was employed as anadjunct professor inelectrical engineering in the newly formed school of Electrical Engineering at theUniversity of Nebraska. During his time at Nebraska, Owens was involved in formingThe Society of Electrical Engineers of the University of Nebraska in 1893, the body which is known today as theIEEE.
After seven years of service he left the now-department in shape comparable to other universities of the time, in August 1898, Owens took a position as MacDonald Chair of Electrical Engineering atMcGill University inMontreal. There he met the new MacDonald Professor of Physics,Ernest Rutherford. Both Owens and Rutherford conducted research on radioactivity, Owens concentrating on compounds of thorium, Rutherford on those of uranium. Owens, it is argued, deserves part of the credit for the discovery of the isotope ofradon formed in the radioactive decay of thorium,[2] along with Rutherford and his studentHarriet Brooks.[3]
Owens served as an officer inWorld War I, alongside GeneralJohn J. Pershing.
He died on November 3, 1940.[1]
Dr. Robert Bowie Owena, prominent electrical engineer, Former director of the Maryland Academy of Sciences and
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