Biographical entry Parsons, Sir Charles Algernon (1854 - 1931)

OM, KCB, FRS

Born
13 June 1854
London, United Kingdom
Died
11 February 1931
Kingston, Jamaica
Occupation
Engineer and Inventor

Summary

Sir Charles Algernon Parsons was an engineer who worked on dynamo and turbine design and is best known for inventing the steam turbine.

In 1897 he displayed his yacht Turbinia at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review to demonstrate the power of his invention, to much public acclaim.

In 1906, The HMS Dreadnought was fitted with Parsons steam turbines. They were said to make it the fastest ship in the world at that time.

Skip to

Details

Chronology

1877
Education - Degree in Mathematics (wth Honours) from St John's College, Cambridge
c. 1878 - ?
Career position - Apprentice at W.G. Armstrong
1884
Career event - Developed his first steam turbine
1884
Career position - Head of electrical equipment development at Clarke, Chapman and Co., Newcastle
1889
Career event - Established the Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company
1889
Career event - Established the C. A. Parsons and Company to manufacture his turbo-generators
1897
Career event - Demonstrated his steam turbine-powered yacht Turbinia at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Fleet Review
1898
Award - Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
1899
Career event - Developed his first megawatt steam turbine
1911
Award - Made a knight by George V.
1920
Award - Received the Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, USA
1925
Career event - Acquired the Grubb Telescope Company and renamed it Grubb Parsons.
1927
Award - Elected a member of the Order of Merit

Related entries

Related Glossary Terms

Published resources

Journal Articles

  • 'Miscellanea', The Engineer, vol. 84, 12 November 1897, p. 473. Details
  • 'The turbine-driven Turbinia', The Engineer, vol. 83, 11 June 1897, p. 602. Details
  • 'The application of the compound steam turbine to the purpose of marine propulsion', The Engineer, vol. 83, 16 April 1897, p. 397. Details
  • 'On the relative advantages and disadvantages of rotary and reciprocating engines as applied to ship propulsion', The Engineer, vol. 83, 28 May 1897, pp. 540-541. Details
  • 'On the formation of cavities in water by screw propellers at high speeds', The Engineer, vol. 84, 16 July 1897, p. 59. Details
  • 'The destroyer Viper', The Engineer, vol. 88, 1 December 1899, p. 552. Details
  • 'Miscellanea', The Engineer, vol. 88, 8 September 1899, p. 243. Details
  • 'Dockyard notes', The Engineer, vol. 89, 12, p. 37. Details
  • 'HM Torpedo Boat Destroyer Viper', The Engineer, vol. 90, 202, p. 68. Details
  • 'HM destroyer Viper', The Engineer, vol. 89, 47, p. 170 and 174. Details
  • 'HMS Viper', The Engineer, Letter to the Editor by Charles A. Parsons, vol. 89, 69, p. 259. Details
  • 'Dockyard notes', The Engineer, vol. 89, 146, p. 536. Details
  • 'Notes and memoranda', The Engineer, vol. 90, 202, p. 62. Details
  • Goodall, S. V., 'Sir Charles Parsons and the Royal Navy', Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects, vol. 84, 38467, pp. 1-16. Details
  • Parsons, C. A. and Stoney, G. G., 'The Steam Turbine', Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. 163, no. 1, 1905-1906, pp. 167-239. Details
  • Scaife, W G, 'Charles Parsons' experiments with Rocket Torpedoes - the Precursors of the Steam Turbine', The Newcomen Society for the study of the history of Engineering and Technology Transactions, vol. 60, 1988-1989, pp. 17-29. Details

Online Resources

Sources used to compile this entry: 'Charles Agneron Parsons', in Wikipedia, 2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Algernon_Parsons; Claude Gibb, 'Parsons, Sir Charles Algernon (1854-1931)', in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2008, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35396.

Prepared by: Rebecca Rigby