George Johnstone Stoney

Wikipedia Biographical Summary:

"...George Johnstone Stoney (15 February 1826 – 5 July 1911) was an Anglo-Irish physicist. He is most famous for introducing the term electron as the "fundamental unit quantity of electricity". He had introduced the concept, though not the word, as early as 1874 and 1881, and the word came in 1891. He published around 75 scientific papers during his lifetime..."

"...Stoney was born at Oakley Park, near Birr, County Offaly, in the Irish Midlands, in an old-established Anglo-Irish family. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, graduating with a B.A. in 1848. From 1848 to 1852 he worked as an astronomy assistant to William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse at Birr Castle, County Offaly, where Parsons had built the world's largest telescope, the 72-inch Leviathan of Parsonstown. Simultaneously Stoney continued to study physics and mathematics and was awarded an M.A. by Trinity College Dublin in 1852..."

"...Stoney published seventy-five scientific papers in a variety of journals, but chiefly in the journals of the Royal Dublin Society. He made significant contributions to cosmic physics and to the theory of gases. He estimated the number of molecules in a cubic millimetre of gas, at room temperature and pressure, from data obtained from the kinetic theory of gases. Stoney's most important scientific work was the conception and calculation of the magnitude of the "atom of electricity". In 1891, he proposed the term 'electron' to describe the fundamental unit of electrical charge, and his contributions to research in this area laid the foundations for the eventual discovery of the particle by J.J. Thomson in 1897..."

"...The woman Stoney married was one of his cousins. They had two sons and three daughters. For most of his decades in Dublin, Stoney resided in the Dundrum, Dublin neighbourhood. The street that he lived on was later re-named Stoney Road in his memory. After Stoney died in London, his cremated ashes were buried in Dundrum, Dublin.
One of Stoney's sons, George Gerald Stoney, was a scientist. But a more scientifically notable relative was Stoney's nephew, the Dublin-based physicist George FitzGerald (1851–1901)..."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'George Johnstone Stoney', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 2 March 2012, 17:28 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_Johnstone_Stoney&o...> [accessed 13 March 2012]

1864, living at 89 Waterloo Road, Dublin - irishgenealogy.ie. 1866-70, living at 40 Wellington Road, Dublin - irishgenealogy.ie. 1891-1894, living at 9 Palmerston Park - Thom's Directory.

After moving to London, lived at Hornsey Rise, in the north of London, and afterwards at 30 Chepstow Crescent, Notting Hill Gate.

In the 1911 census, living at Chepstow Crescent with his daughters Edith Anne (42, lecturer) and Florence Ada (41, doctor).

He died at Chepstow Crescent - newspaper cutting of 6 July 1911 kept by Grace Stoney.

http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/STONEY_BIO_5.html
http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/STONEY_BIO_2.html http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/STONEY_BIO_3.html http://www.acmi.net.au/AIC/STONEY_BIO_4.html

Dictionary of Irish biography, Vol. 7, p. 115.

He was appointed Fellow, Royal Society (F.R.S.). He was the Secretary of the Queen's University of Ireland - Burke's Irish Family Records.