William Sturgeon (1783-1850) was a British inventor, physicist, electrician and scientific professor. He is recognized for having designed the first electromagnet, as well as building the first electrical commutator and moving coil galvanometer..
These inventions were important not only because of what they represented for the time, but because they laid the foundations for later developments, such as modern electric motors and the telegraph, among other devices..
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On May 22, 1783, William Sturgeon was born in the town of Whittington, Shropshire county in the United Kingdom. He was the only child of John Sturgeon, an immigrant shoemaker, and Betsy Adcock, the daughter of a small merchant. He began to learn the trade from his father at an early age but, as soon as he could join the military, he abandoned this activity.
It was in 1802, at the age of 19, when he joined the army, specifically the Westmorland Militia. Two years later he was in the 2nd Artillery Battalion based at Woolwich in south east London.
During his spare time, Sturgeon began to self-study natural sciences, as well as electrical and magnetic phenomena..
During his time in Woolwich, he met a widowed shoe store owner Mary Hutton, who would soon become his wife. With her he would have his 3 children, who died being just children.
When he left the army in 1820 he returned to his hometown, Whittington, and applied the knowledge he had acquired as an apprentice in his childhood, as he dedicated himself to the manufacture of boots. He shared his time with teaching mathematics and physics.
After 4 years, Sturgeon returned to Woolwich and became Professor of Science and Philosophy at the Royal East Indian Military College at Addiscombe in Surrey..
In 1825 he built the first adjustable electromagnet, for which he received an award from the Royal Society of Artsun that included a silver medal and three guineas to support the implementation of this device..
In 1828, inspired by the ideas of the Frenchman André-Marie Ampère, he invented the solenoid. Two years later, he devised a battery that had a longer life range than that developed by the Italian Alessandro Volta. In 1832 he gave lectures at the Adelaide Gallery of Practical Sciences. That year he built the commutator for the electric motor and the modern compass.
The first moving coil galvanometer was developed in 1836, the same year that he founded the monthly magazine. Annals of Electricity in association with John Peter Gassiot and Charles Vincent Walker. This publication achieved prestige and was maintained until it reached 10 volumes, in 1843 when its last copy came out..
In this period he presented his first contribution on electromagnetic machines to the Royal Society, which refused to include it in its publication. Philosophical Transactions.
In 1840 he became superintendent of the Royal Victoria Gallery of Practical Sciences in Manchester. He held this position for four years.
In 1843 he made another couple of publications: the Annals of Philosophical Discovery Y Monthly Reporter of the Progress of Science and Art. He was also a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, from which he received a grant and over the years an annuity..
It was in 1847 when this British physicist seriously affected his health with a severe attack of bronchitis, a condition from which he never fully recovered. Therefore, he decided to move to Prestwich, in search of less pollution in the environment.
At the end of November 1850 he suffered a health relapse due to a new cold, which caused his death at the age of 67, dying in Prestwich, in the metropolitan district of Bury, Greater Manchester.
Sturgeon is renowned for developing electrical devices that would serve as the basis for later inventions. Among those devices is the first electromagnet, which consisted of a 200-gram piece of iron wrapped in a coil. Through it circulated the electric current of a battery, whose power allowed to lift any object up to 4 kilograms in weight.
This device favored the invention of the telegraph, the electric motor, and many other mechanisms. The electromagnet today is widely used to rapidly create rotating magnetic fields, through switches, clutches, brakes, cranes, linear motors, and magnetic levitation trains..
In 1830 he developed a battery of greater durability than that of Alessandro Volta. It consisted of a single-cell cast iron cylinder, in which an amalgamated zinc cylinder was placed. He used dilute sulfuric acid to charge the battery. With these batteries he could power his electric magnets and increase their power.
In 1832 he managed to invent the solenoid, based on the ideas of André-Marie Ampère. He wound a wire in a spiral on a cylindrical frame that created a magnetic field, as the current passed through it. To isolate the structure of the cables, he placed a layer of shellac on the bar.
This type of coil is usually implemented today to operate a type of valve, which is usually used in the hydraulic and pneumatic fields.
That same year, Sturgeon succeeded in developing the commutator for electric motors. It was a rotary switch that periodically changed the direction of the current between the rotor and the external circuit..
Later, the British inventor created the first suspended coil galvanometer, a device that made it possible to measure current.
In addition to these developments, his work made it possible to improve the voltaic battery, being the first to describe the amalgamation process through a zinc electrode in a battery with mercury..
He also worked on the theory of thermoelectricity. To do this, he observed more than 500 comets and established that the atmosphere is positively charged in a serene climate, increasing this charge with altitude..
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