Graphical version

University College London

Fleming Papers


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0103 MS ADD 122

Held at: University College London

Title: Fleming Papers

Date(s): c1841-1954

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 521 volumes, 12 boxes

Name of creator(s): Fleming | Sir | Ambrose | 1849-1945 | Knight | engineer

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Ambrose Fleming studied physics and mathematics at University College London and later studied chemistry at the Royal College of Chemistry. In 1877 he was an undergraduate at St John's College Cambridge, where he studied under James Clerk Maxwell. In 1881 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Physics at University College Nottingham and in 1883 became a Fellow of St John's College Cambridge. In 1884 Fleming was invited to give a course of lectures on electro-technology at University College London and the following year became the first Professor of Electrical Technology there. Fleming was associated with the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company as scientific adviser from 1899. In 1904 he patented his rectifying valve. In 1926 he resigned his Professorship at University College London. Fleming was knighted in 1929. He was awarded the Ruddell Medal by the Physical Society in 1931, the Franklin Medal by the Franklin Institute, USA, in 1935, and the Kelvin Medal by the three Engineering Institutions of Great Britain in 1935.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Sir Ambrose Fleming, including extensive sets of laboratory notebooks which include accounts of experiments on carbon filaments carried out by Fleming when he was adviser to the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, of tests on electrical and photometric standards carried out in the Pender Laboratory at University College London, and of experiments on valves and other aspects of wireless telegraphy; notes of lectures attended by Fleming and notes for lectures given by Fleming; patent specifications and papers on litigation over them; newspaper cuttings and other compilations by Fleming; papers on awards and distinctions; biographical notes; and correspondence. 500 of the 521 volumes are printed works associated with the collection.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Open.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Normal copyright restrictions apply.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

Handlist and name index.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Bequeathed to the College by Fleming.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Date(s) of descriptions: Revised Aug 2001


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Electrical equipment | Equipment
Engineering education | Higher science education
Experiments | Research work
Patents | Intellectual property | Civil law | Legal systems | Law
Press cuttings | Newspaper press | Press
Wireless telegraphy | Broadcasting technology
Electrical engineering
Electricity
Physics

Personal names
Fleming | Sir | Ambrose | 1849-1945 | Knight | engineer

Corporate names
Edison and Swan Electric Light Company
University College London | Pender Laboratory

Places