Thomas Eckersley

spouse = Eva Amelia Pain children = 3 family = footnotes =

Thomas Lydwell Eckersley FRS

Biography

Eckersley was born in St John's Wood, London, the second of three sons of William Alfred, a civil engineer, and Rachel, fifth child of Thomas Henry Huxley. After early years in Mexico, he attended Bedales School from age 11, where he became very interested in mathematics. Then, at 15, he went to University College London, to read engineering. He discovered that the subject was not for him, and was awarded a second class degree. He joined the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), where he worked on the behaviour of iron under the influence of alternating magnetic fields. The results were published in a classic paper.

In 1940 Eckersley joined the staff of the Air Ministry for secret work and in 1942 became Chief Scientific Adviser to the Interservice Ionosphere Bureau, established at the Marconi Research and Development Laboratories at Great Baddow. His contribution to radar techniques were important, especially in improving the radar detection of submarines.

He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1938 and was awarded the Faraday Medal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1951.

Family

Thomas Lydwell Eckersley married Eva Amelia Pain, daughter of Barry Pain, the author; on 14 April 1920 at All Saints Church, St John’s Wood. They had three children: Noel, Sylvia and Shirley.

Eckersley suffered from multiple sclerosis following his retirement. He died at Manor House, Danbury, Essex on 15 February 1959, of pneumonia contracted during an epidemic of influenza.