Eaton Hodgkinson - Early life, Scientific work, Later years, Bibliography

Engineer, born in Anderton, Cheshire, NWC England, UK. He had little formal higher education, but became one of the foremost authorities on the strength of materials, by carrying out tests in the engineering works of Sir William Fairbairn. He proposed the Hodgkinson's beam as the most efficient form of cast-iron beam (1830), and published a paper On the Strength of Pillars of Cast Iron and Other Materials (1840). He also collaborated with Fairbairn and Robert Stephenson on the design of the wrought-iron rectangular tubes within which trains crossed the R Conway and the Menai Strait in N Wales, a significant advance in the theory and practice of structural engineering at the time.

Early life

Hodgkinson was born in the village of Anderton, near Great Budworth, Cheshire to a farming family. His mother moved him to a less prestigious private school in Northwich where his enthusiasm for mathematics was encouraged and fostered but, as the young Hodgkinson grew physically, he became indispensable on the family farm and soon left education to devote himself there.

However, farming was no more to his taste than Greek and Latin and his mother yearned to satisfy her son's appetites. Family friends advised that Hodgkinson might find some more suitable outlet in nearby Manchester and so, in 1811, the family left for Salford to open a pawnbroking business. Hodgkinson used all his spare time in reading science and mathematics and soon introduced himself into Manchester's scientific community, meeting, among others, his future collaborator, Sir William Fairbairn.

He married twice, to Catherine Johns and to a Miss Holditch.

Scientific work

Hodgkinson worked with Sir William Fairbairn in Manchester on the design of iron beams. and its bottom-flange area, A (inch2):

His expertise with beams led to his retention, along with Fairbairn, as consultant on Robert Stephenson's novel tubular design for the Britannia Bridge.

Later years

Hodgkinson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1841 and, in 1847, he became professor of the mechanical principles of engineering at University College London.

Towards the end of his life, his mental faculties failed and he died at Higher Broughton, Manchester.

Bibliography

Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Enquire into the Application of Iron to Railway Structures (1849) cmd. (1994) Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgement in Engineering ISBN 0-521-46108-1 Rawson, R (1865) "Memoir of Eaton Hodgkinson", Transactions of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, vol II, reprinted in Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institute (1868), pp203-230 Timoshenko, S.