Dionysius Lardner | |
|---|---|
 Dionysius Lardner | |
| Born | (1793-04-03)3 April 1793 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 29 April 1859(1859-04-29) (aged 66) |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Dublin |
| Known for | Cabinet Cyclopedia |
Dionysius LardnerFRSFRSE (3 April 1793 – 29 April 1859) was anIrish scientific writer who popularised science and technology, and edited the 133-volumeCabinet Cyclopædia.
He was born inDublin on 3 April 1793 the son of William Lardner and his wife; his father was a solicitor in Dublin, who wished his son to follow the same calling. After some years of uncongenial desk work, Lardner enteredTrinity College, Dublin, in 1812. He obtained a B.A. in 1817[1] and an M.A. in 1819, winning many prizes.
He married Cecilia Flood on 19 December 1815, but they separated in 1820 and were divorced in 1835. About the time of the separation, he began a relationship with a married woman, Anne Maria Darley Boursiquot, the wife of a Dublin wine merchant of Huguenot ancestry. It is believed that he fathered her son,Dion Boucicault, who became an actor and dramatist. Lardner provided him with financial support until 1840. Whilst in Dublin, Lardner began to write and lecture on scientific and mathematical matters, and to contribute articles for publication by the Irish Academy.[2]
In 1828, Lardner was elected professor ofnatural philosophy andastronomy atUniversity College, London, a position he held until he resigned his professorship in 1831.[citation needed]
Lardner showed himself to be a successful populariser of science, giving talks on contemporary topics such asBabbage'sDifference Engine (1834).[3] He was the author of numerous mathematical and physical treatises on such subjects asalgebraic geometry (1823), the differential and integralcalculus (1825), and thesteam engine (1828). He also wrote hand-books on various departments of natural philosophy (1854–1856); but it is as the editor of Lardner'sCabinet Cyclopædia (1830–1844) that he is best remembered.[citation needed]
TheCabinet Cyclopædia eventually comprised 133 volumes, and many of the ablest savants of the day contributed to it.Sir Walter Scott contributed a history ofScotland andThomas Moore contributed a history of Ireland.Connop Thirlwall provided a history ofAncient Greece, whilstRobert Southey provided a section on naval history. Many eminent scientists contributed as well. Lardner himself was the author of the treatises on arithmetic, geometry, heat,hydrostatics andpneumatics, mechanics (in conjunction withHenry Kater) and electricity (in conjunction withC.V. Walker).[2]
TheCabinet Library (9 vols., 1830–1832), theEdinburgh Cabinet Library (38 vols., 1830–1844) and theMuseum of Science and Art (12 vols., 1854–1856) were his other chief undertakings. A few original papers appear in the Royal Irish Academy'sTransactions (1824), in theRoyal Society'sProceedings (1831–1836) and in the Astronomical Society'sMonthly Notices (1852–1853); and twoReports to the British Association on railway constants (1838, 1841) are from his pen.[1]
In 1840 Lardner's career received a major setback as a result of his involvement with Mary Spicer Heaviside, the wife of Captain Richard Heaviside, of theDragoon Guards. He had previously been married to Cecilia Flood from 1815 to their separation in 1820. Lardner ran off to Paris with Mrs Heaviside, pursued by her husband. When he caught up with them, Heaviside subjected Lardner to a flogging but he was unable to persuade his wife to return with him. Later that year he successfully sued Lardner for "criminal conversation" (adultery) and received a judgment of £8,000.
The Heavisides were divorced in 1845, and in 1846 Lardner was able to marry Mary Heaviside. The scandal caused by his affair with a married woman effectively ended his career in England, so Lardner and his wife remained in Paris until shortly before his death in 1859. He was able to maintain his career by lecturing in the United States between 1841 and 1844, which proved financially rewarding,[2] realising £40,000.[1]
He died inNaples, Italy, and is buried in theCimitero degli Inglesi there.[4]
Lardner became involved in a number of ill-advised public disagreements withIsambard Kingdom Brunel regarding technical matters, in which he came off the worse.[citation needed]
During the 1833 Parliamentary hearings discussing the proposal of the Great Western Railway, Lardner criticised Brunel's design of theBox Tunnel. The tunnel had a 1-in-100 gradient from the east end to the west end. Lardner asserted that if a train's brakes were to fail in the tunnel, it would accelerate to over 120 mph (190 km/h), at which speed the train would break up and kill the passengers. Brunel pointed out that Lardner's calculations totally disregarded air resistance and friction, a basic error.[5]
In 1836, when Brunel was proposing to buildSS Great Western for the 3,500 mi (5,600 km) transatlantic passage to New York, at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Lardner stated that:
As the project of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it was perfectly chimerical, and they might as well talk of making the voyage from New York to the moon... 2,080 mi (3,350 km) is the longest run that a steamer could encounter – at the end of that distance she would require a relay of coals.
Again, Brunel was able to show that Lardner's calculations were too simplistic. The principle that Brunel understood, which Lardner did not, was that the carrying capacity of a ship increases as the cube of its dimensions, whilst the water resistance only increases as the square of its dimensions. This meant that large ships were more fuel efficient, and could carry sufficient coal for the long voyage across the Atlantic. Brunel was proved right when theGreat Western steamed into New York harbour with 200 long tons (200 tonnes) of coal to spare.[5][6]
In 1838 while Brunel was building thebroad-gaugeGreat Western Railway, Lardner carried out some experiments with the company's flagship locomotive,North Star. He asserted that, whilst the engine was capable of hauling 82 long tons (83 tonnes) at 33 mph (53 km/h), it was only capable of hauling 16 long tons (16 tonnes) at 41 mph (66 km/h). He also recorded excessive fuel consumption at higher speeds. Lardner attributed this to the greater wind resistance of broad-gauge engines. Brunel and his assistantDaniel Gooch carried out their own experiments on the same locomotive and found that the only problem was that theblast pipe was too small. This was easily rectified and the North Star's performance immediately improved. At the next meeting of the company's directors, Brunel triumphantly dismissed Lardner's evidence.[5]
Lardner is mentioned inKarl Marx'sDas Kapital and was well respected as an economist. He mixed with the rich and famous. He was involved in the founding of theUniversity of London and was the first person to hold the post of Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy there. He was influential in publicisingCharles Babbage'sDifference Engine.
Whilst lecturing in America Lardner was paid by Norris Brothers, the largest firm of locomotive builders, to investigate a fatal accident in Reading, near Philadelphia, where aboiler had exploded on a newly made train. Lardner pronounced that the accident had been caused by lightning, which meant that Norris Brothers were not personally liable for the accident. A committee of the Franklin Institute pointed out that there was no lightning present at that time and that the pumps had been faulty, the water indicator was ill-designed and the bridge bands made of cast iron rather than wrought iron. The Coroner's inquest jury were persuaded by Lardner that the accident was an 'act of God' but the company were careful to design their later locomotives with wrought-iron bands.[7]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lardner, Dionysius".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 214.
