John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer (d. 1945)
Sir John Ambrose Fleming FRS (29 November 1849 – 18 April 1945) was an English electrical engineer and physicist who invented the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, designed the radio transmitter with which the first transatlantic radio transmission was made, and also established the right-hand rule used in physics.He was the eldest of seven children of James Fleming DD (died 1879), a Congregational minister, and his wife Mary Ann, at Lancaster, Lancashire, and baptised on 11 February 1850. A devout Christian, he once preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London on evidence for the resurrection.
In 1932, he and Douglas Dewar and Bernard Acworth helped establish the Evolution Protest Movement. Fleming bequeathed much of his estate to Christian charities, especially those for the poor. He was a noted photographer, painted watercolours, and enjoyed climbing the Alps.
1849Nov, 29
John Ambrose Fleming
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Events on 1849
- 13Feb
Franz Joseph I of Austria
The delegation headed by Metropolitan bishop Andrei Șaguna hands out to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria the General Petition of Romanian leaders in Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina, which demands that the Romanian nation be recognized. - 29Mar
Punjab region
The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab. - 14Apr
Lajos Kossuth
Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader. - 3Jul
Italian unification
The French enter Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification. - 17Sep
Harriet Tubman
American abolitionist Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery.