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Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti FRS | |
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| Born | (1864-04-09)9 April 1864 Liverpool, England |
| Died | 13 January 1930(1930-01-13) (aged 65) Zürich, Switzerland |
| Alma mater | University College London |
| Known for | Ferranti effectDynamoAC power |
| Awards | Faraday Medal(1924)Fellow of the Royal Society(1927) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrical engineer and inventor |
Sebastian Pietro Innocenzo Adhemar Ziani de Ferranti (9 April 1864 – 13 January 1930) was a Britishelectrical engineer and inventor who pioneered high-voltageAC power in the UK, patented the Ferrantidynamo and designedDeptford power station.[1]
Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti was born inLiverpool, England. His Italian father, Cesare, was a photographer (son of composerMarco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti) and his motherJuliana de Ferranti (née Scott) was a concert pianist. He was educated atHampstead School, London; St. Augustine's College,Westgate-on-Sea; andUniversity College London.[2]
He marriedGertrude Ruth Ince on 24 April 1888 atSt Dominic's Priory Hampstead and they had seven children: Zoë Vanda Marie (1889–1978); Basil (1891–1917); GerardVincent (1893–1980); Vera Catherine (1898–1993); Yolanda (1902–1919); Denis (1908–1992) and Yvonne Teresa (1913-1988). Ferranti died on 13 January 1930 inZürich, Switzerland. He was buried atHampstead Cemetery, London in the same grave as his parents, wife and his daughter Yolanda (who died at seventeen from appendicitis).[3]
His grandson,Basil de Ferranti, was aConservative politician who representedMorecambe and Lonsdale in the late fifties and early sixties. His granddaughterValerie Hunter Gordon invented what is considered the world's firstdisposable nappy and an earlysanitary towel system.[4]
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Ferranti showed a remarkable talent for electrical engineering from his childhood. His first invention, at the age of 13, was anarc light forstreet lighting. Reportedly, around the age of 16, he built anelectrical generator (that had a "Zig-zag armature") with the help of William Thomson (the futureLord Kelvin) and later patented the device (called the "Ferranti Dynamo"). He worked forSiemens Brothers atCharlton, London, and in 1882 he set up shop in London designing various electrical devices as the firm Ferranti, Thompson and Ince.
In the late 1880s, there was a debate within the American industry about the transmission of electrical power, known as thewar of the currents.Thomas Edison supported adirect current (DC) based system, largely due to his holding many key patents and having set up some power plants supplying DC power. The rivalWestinghouse Electric Corporation supported analternating current (AC) system.
Ferranti bet on AC early on and was one of the few experts in this system in the UK. In 1887, the London Electric Supply Corporation (LESCo) hired Ferranti to design their power station atDeptford. He designed the building, the generating plant and the distribution system. On its completion in 1891, it was the first truly modern power station, supplying high-voltage AC power for distribution at 11kV that was then "stepped down" for consumer use on each street. This basic system remains in use today around the world. One of the remaining supports of theDeptford Power Station generating hall forms the frame of the sign at theMuseum of Science and Industry inManchester UK, home of the Ferranti Archives.
S.Z. de Ferranti, the company set up by Ferranti in 1885 with Francis Ince and Charles Sparks as partners, became S.Z. de Ferranti Ltd in 1890 andFerranti Ltd in 1900, after the resignation of Ince and Sparks. Ferranti Ltd would outlive its founder and develop theFerranti Mark 1, the world's first commercially available general-purpose computer, in 1951.
Sebastian de Ferranti was President of theInstitution of Electrical Engineers in 1910 and 1911 and was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 1927. He received an honorary doctorate from theUniversity of Manchester in 1912. Ferranti was actively involved in the formation of the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers Association (BEAMA) in 1911 and its first chairman, to 1913.[5] He was a great supporter of theElectrical Association for Women, whichGertrude Ziani de Ferranti played a large role in.[2]
In 1932, theLondon Power Company commemorated Sebastian de Ferranti by naming a new 1,315GRTcoastalcollier SSFerranti.[6] Ferranti's wife Gertrude and her brother Robin Ince wrote and published a book,The Life and Letters of Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti in tribute to him in 1934, to whichCaroline Haslett contributed the foreword.[3] In 2016 ablue plaque in honour of Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti was installed at 130 Bold Street, Liverpool, marking the place of his birth.[7] An urban park situated south of the site of the Deptford Power Station in southeast London is namedFerranti Park in his honour.[8][9]
