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John Scott Russell

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Not to be confused withJohn Russell Scott.

John Scott Russell
FRSEFRSFRSA
John Scott Russell in 1847
Born9 May 1808(1808-05-09)
Parkhead,Glasgow,Scotland
Died8 June 1882(1882-06-09)(aged 74)
Ventnor,Isle of Wight, England[1]
NationalityBritish
EducationUniversity of Edinburgh,University of St. Andrews,University of Glasgow
OccupationEngineer
SpouseHarriette Russell (née Osborne)
ChildrenOsborne Russell, Norman Scott Russell, Louisa Scott Russell, Mary Rachel Scott Russell, Alice M. Scott Russell
Parent(s)David Russell and Agnes Clark Scott
Engineering career
InstitutionsRoyal Society of Edinburgh(Councillor 1838-9),Royal Society,Institution of Civil Engineers(Vice President),Institution of Naval Architects(Vice President),Society of Arts(Secretary 1845-50)
AwardsKeith Prize

John Scott RussellFRSEFRSFRSA(9 May 1808,Parkhead,Glasgow– 8 June 1882,Ventnor,Isle of Wight) was a Scottishcivil engineer,naval architectand shipbuilder who builtGreat Easternin collaboration withIsambard Kingdom Brunel.He made the discovery of the wave of translation that gave birth to the modern study ofsolitons,and developed the wave-line system of ship construction.

Russell was a promoter of theGreat Exhibition of 1851.

Early life[edit]

John Russell was born on 9 May 1808 in Parkhead, Glasgow, the son of Reverend David Russell and Agnes Clark Scott. He spent one year at theUniversity of St. Andrewsbefore transferring to theUniversity of Glasgow.It was while at the University of Glasgow that he added his mother's maiden name, Scott, to his own, to become John Scott Russell. He graduated from Glasgow University in 1825 at the age of 17 and moved toEdinburghwhere he taught mathematics and science at the LeithMechanics' Institute,achieving the highest attendance in the city.[2]

On the death ofSir John Leslie,Professor ofNatural Philosophyat theUniversity of Edinburghin 1832, Scott Russell, though only 24 years old, was elected to temporarily fill the vacancy pending the election of a permanent professor, due to his proficiency in the natural sciences and popularity as a lecturer. But although encouraged to stand for the permanent position he refused to compete with another candidate he admired and thereafter concentrated the engineering profession and experimental research on a large scale.[3]

Family life[edit]

He married Harriette Osborne, daughter of the Irish baronetSir Daniel Toler Osborneand Harriette Trench, daughter of theEarl of ClancartyinDublinin 1839; they had two sons (Norman survived) and three daughters, Louise (1841–1878), Rachel (1845–1882) and Alice. In London they lived for five years in a house provided for the secretary of theSociety of Artsand then moved toSydenham Hill,which became a centre of attention especially after Russell and his friends movedPaxton's glasshouse for theGreat Exhibitiontothe Crystal Palaceclose by.[4]

Arthur Sullivanand his friendFrederic Claywere frequent visitors at the Scott Russell home in the mid-1860s; Clay became engaged to Alice, and Sullivan wooed Rachel. While Clay was from a wealthy family, Sullivan was still a poor young composer from a poor family; the Scott Russells welcomed the engagement of Alice to Clay, who, however broke it off, but forbade the relationship between Sullivan and Rachel, although the two continued to see each other covertly. At some point in 1868, Sullivan started a simultaneous (and secret) affair with Louise (1841–1878). Both relationships had ceased by early 1869.[5]

The American engineerAlexander Lyman Holleybefriended Scott Russell and his family on his various visits to London at the time of the construction ofGreat Eastern.Holley also visited Scott Russell's house in Sydenham. As a result of this, Holley, and his colleagueZerah Colburn,travelled on the maiden voyage ofGreat Easternfrom Southampton to New York in June 1860. Scott Russell's son, Norman, stayed with Holley at his house in Brooklyn — Norman also travelled on the maiden voyage, one voyage that John Scott Russell did not make.

His son, Norman, followed his father in becoming a naval architect, contributing to the Institution of Naval Architects which his father had founded.[6]

Steam carriage[edit]

The steam carriage, with boiler below the axle and two pistons

While in Edinburgh he experimented with steam engines, using a square boiler for which he developed a method of staying the surface of the boiler which became universal. TheScottish Steam Carriage Companywas formed producing asteam carriagewith two cylinders developing 12 horsepower each. Six were constructed in 1834, well-sprung and fitted out to high standard, which from March 1834 ran between Glasgow'sGeorge Squareand the Tontine Hotel inPaisleyat hourly intervals at 15 mph. The road trustees objected that it wore out the road and placed various obstructions of logs and stones in the road, which actually caused more discomfort for horse-drawn carriages. But in July 1834 one of the carriages was overturned and the boiler smashed, causing the death of several passengers. Two of the coaches were sent to London where they ran for a short time between London and Greenwich.[7][8]

The wave of translation[edit]

In 1834, while conducting experiments to determine the most efficient design for canal boats, he discovered a phenomenon that he described as thewave of translation.Influid dynamicsthe wave is now called Russell'ssolitary wave.The discovery is described here in his own words:[9][10]

I was observing the motion of a boat which was rapidly drawn along a narrow channel by a pair of horses, when the boat suddenly stopped—not so the mass of water in the channel which it had put in motion; it accumulated round the prow of the vessel in a state of violent agitation, then suddenly leaving it behind, rolled forward with great velocity, assuming the form of a large solitary elevation, a rounded, smooth and well-defined heap of water, which continued its course along the channel apparently without change of form or diminution of speed. I followed it on horseback, and overtook it still rolling on at a rate of some eight or nine miles an hour [14 km/h], preserving its original figure some thirty feet [9 m] long and a foot to a foot and a half [30−45 cm] in height. Its height gradually diminished, and after a chase of one or two miles [2–3 km] I lost it in the windings of the channel. Such, in the month of August 1834, was my first chance interview with that singular and beautiful phenomenon which I have called the Wave of Translation.

The phenomenon of solitary waves had previously been reported in 1826 byGiorgio BidoneinTurin,[11][12][13]but Bidone's work seems to have gone unnoticed by researchers in the Netherlands and Britain, despite being mentioned in the Edinburgh Journal of Science in the same year.[14]

Scott Russell spent some time making practical and theoretical investigations of these waves. He built wave tanks at his home and noticed some key properties:

  • The waves are stable, and can travel over very large distances (normal waves would tend to either flatten out, or steepen and topple over)
  • The speed depends on the size of the wave, and its width on the depth of water.
  • Unlike normal waves they will never merge—so a small wave is overtaken by a large one, rather than the two combining.
  • If a wave is too big for the depth of water, it splits into two, one big and one small.
Solitary wave in a laboratorywave channel.

Scott Russell's experimental work seemed at contrast withIsaac Newton's andDaniel Bernoulli's theories ofhydrodynamics.George Biddell AiryandGeorge Gabriel Stokeshad difficulty to accept Scott Russell's experimental observations because Scott Russell's observations could not be explained by the existing water-wave theories. Additional observations were reported byHenry Bazinin 1862 after experiments carried out in thecanal de Bourgognein France.[15]In 1863, Bazin authored a research paper titledRecherches hydrauliques entreprises par M.H. Darcy(English:Hydraulic Researches Undertaken byM.H. Darcy) which featured the work of Scott Russell.[16]

A Dutch translation of Bazin's work entitledVerslag aan de Fransche academie van wetenschappen over het gedeelte der verhandeling van Bazin, betrekkelijk de opstuwingen en de voortbeweging der golven(English:Report to the French Academy of Sciences on the portion of Bazin's treatise relating to surges and the propagation of waves) was featured in the proceedings of the DutchKoninklijk Instituut van Ingenieurs(English:Royal Institute of Engineers) in 1869. Within the original French paper, and the translated work, the velocity of a solitary wave is given as:

The formula is denoted as "the law of Scott Russell" within the text.[17]His contemporaries spent some time attempting to extend the theory but it would take until the 1870s before an explanation was provided.

Lord Rayleighpublished a paper in Philosophical Magazine in 1876 to support John Scott Russell's experimental observation with his mathematical theory.[18]In his 1876 paper, Lord Rayleigh mentioned Scott Russell's name and also admitted that the first theoretical treatment was byJoseph Valentin Boussinesqin 1871; Boussinesq had mentioned Scott Russell's name in his 1871 paper.[19]Thus Scott Russell's observations on solitary waves were accepted as true by some prominent scientists within his own lifetime.

Kortewegandde Vriesdid not mention John Scott Russell's name at all in their 1895 paper but they did quote Boussinesq's paper in 1871 and Lord Rayleigh's paper in 1876. Although the paper by Korteweg and de Vries in 1895 was not the first theoretical treatment of this subject, it was a very important milestone in the history of the development ofsolitontheory.[20]

It was not until the 1960s and the advent of modern computers that the significance of Scott Russell's discovery inphysics,electronics,biologyand especiallyfibre opticsstarted to become understood, leading to the modern general theory of solitons.[21]

Note that solitons are, by definition, unaltered in shape and speed by a collision with other solitons.[22]So solitary waves on a water surface are not solitons – after the interaction of two (colliding or overtaking) solitary waves, they have changed slightly inamplitudeand an oscillatory residual is left behind.[23]

Wave line system[edit]

Scheme of the bow according to the waveline principle

Once Russell had a way of observing boats at hitherto unprecedented speeds at the front of his wave of translation, he tackled the more fundamental issue for boat design of finding the hull shape which gives the least resistance. This, he reasoned was concerned with moving the mass of water efficiently out of the way of the hull and then back to fill the gap after it has passed. By careful measurements with dynamometers he validated his theory that aversed sinewave produces the ideal shape.

Initially he thought that thesterncould be a mirror of thestem,but soon realised that the removing water produced something closer to conventional waves than his solitary waves and ended up with a rounded stern with acatenaryshape.

His studies produced a revolution in the design of hulls for merchant and navy vessels. Most ships of the time had rounded bows to optimise the cargo-carrying capacity, but starting from the 1840s the "extremeclipper ships"started to show concave bows as increasingly did steam ships culminating withGreat Eastern.After his views were propounded by Commander Fishbourne,[24]the American naval architectJohn W. Griffithsacknowledged the force of Russell's work in hisTreatise on marine and naval architectureof 1850[25]though he was grudging in acknowledging a debt to Russell.

Doppler effect[edit]

Scott Russell made one of the first experimental observations [26] of theDoppler effectwhich he published in 1848.Christian Dopplerpublished his theory in 1842.

Professional association[edit]

Much of Russell's early experimental work had been conducted under the auspices of theBritish Associationand throughout his life he contributed to the scientific and professional associations that were becoming more important in that era.

In 1844, the railway boom was at its height. Russell had contributed an article on the Steam engine and steam navigation for the 7th edition ofEncyclopædia Britannicain 1841 which also appeared in book form.[27]Charles Wentworth Dilkeoffered him the editorial position of a new weekly paper, theRailway Chroniclein London and the Russell family was soon in a small two-room flat inWestminster.The next year he also became the secretary of the committee set up by theRoyal Society of Artsto organise a national exhibition, which provided them with a town house in theStrand.Russell soon introducedHenry Coleto the committee and when, a few weeks before the first exhibition in 1847, there were no exhibitors, Russell and Cole spent three whole days travelling around London to enlist manufacturers and shopkeepers. This and two subsequent exhibitions were such a success that an international version was planned for 1851. By this time Russell had once again started shipbuilding, the railway boom having finished, and although he became the RSA's appointed secretary for theGreat Exhibition,Henry Cole was by this time taking the lead, and he ended up with only a Gold Medal as his reward for much work.

Russell became a member of theInstitution of Civil Engineersin 1847 attending regularly and making frequent contributions, was elected to its council in 1857 and became a vice-president in 1862. However he became involved in a financial dispute withSir William Armstrongand didn't become president. But "as a speaker, and particularly as an after-dinner speaker, he had few equals."[28]He was elected aFellow of the Royal Societyin 1849 although he contributed less.

In 1860 at a meeting at his house in Sydenham, theInstitution of Naval Architectswas set up, with Russell as one of the professional vice-presidents.[29]He attended most meetings and rarely failed to comment.[30]In 1864 he published a massive 3-volume treatise onThe Modern System of Naval Architecturewhich laid out the profiles of many of the new ships being built.

His obituary said of naval architecture:

"it may be said that on commencing his career he found it the most empirical of arts, and he left it one of the most exact of engineering sciences. To this great result many others contributed largely besides himself; but his personal investigations, and the theories which he deduced from them, gave the first impetus to scientific naval architecture".[28]

Ship building[edit]

John Scott Russell (builder), Henry Wakefield (Russell's assistant), Isambard Kingdom Brunel (designer) and Lord Derby at the launching ofGreat Eastern.

From around 1838, Scott Russell was employed at the smallGreenockshipyard of Thomson and Spiers where he introduced his wave-line system to a series ofRoyal Mailships, together with many other innovations. After the shipyard was taken over byCaird,he decided to move to London and in 1848 purchased theMillwall Iron Worksshipbuildingcompany. He built two ships for Brunel for the Australia run, much the same size as Brunel'sSS Great Britain,AdelaideandVictoria.Problems with refuelling and water led Brunel to think in terms of larger ships for this voyage, but five more were built in the same class.[31]

Before they started any business together, he was held in high regard byIsambard Kingdom Brunelwho made him a partner in his project to buildGreat Eastern.[32]Although the original conception, the cellular construction and the joint use of paddle and screw were Brunel's ideas, "the ship embodies the wave-line form, the longitudinal system of construction, the complete and partial bulkheads, and other details of construction which were peculiarly Scott Russell’s".[28]The project was plagued with a number of problems—Scott Russell put in a bid which was far too low with the result that he was bankrupt halfway through, though he recovered to finish the job; but it was Brunel that insisted on a sideways launch rather than the dry dock that Russell preferred.[33]Great Easternwas eventually launched in 1858. Scott Russell was a better scientist than a businessman and his reputation never fully recovered from his financial irregularities, gross neglect of duty and disputes. AsL. T. C. Roltwrites in his biography of Brunel "That Russell had indeed misled Brunel and betrayed his trust was now becoming the more lamentably apparent with every day that passed".[34]

During the 1850s he argued within the Navy for the construction of iron warships and the first design,HMSWarrior,is said by some to be a "Russell ship".[35][36]He afterwards complained about the secrecy that prevented an open discussion of the issues, criticizing those within the Navy who argued that iron ships could not be protected.[37][38]

Maiden voyage of theBodensee Trajekt,1869.

At a time when all previous train ferries were riverine vessels, in 1868 Scott Russell designed a train ferry for service onLake Constance,theBodensee Trajekt,which entered service in 1869. This was the world's first cross-lake train ferry. TheBodensee Trajekthad to meet the unusual requirement that its draft not exceed six feet (1.85m). He achieved this by using the superstructure to carry the stresses of the train. (It was not until 1892 that the firstLake Michigancross-lake train ferry, theAnn Arbor No. 1,designed byFrank E. Kirby,entered service.) Scott Russell used the design of theBodensee Trajektas the basis of a cross-channel ferry that could manage the shallow harbour of Dover, but this was not realised until 1933.[39][40][41][42]

The Vienna Rotunda[edit]

The Rotunde

Although his design for the Great Exhibition was trumped by that ofJoseph Paxton,Scott Russell did design theRotundefor the1873 Vienna Exposition.At 108 metres (354 ft) in diameter it was for nearly a century the largest cupola in the world, having no ties to obstruct the view. Some consider it his greatest structural engineering achievement.[43]

Honours and awards[edit]

A plaque marking the workshop of John Scott Russell at 8 Stafford Street inEdinburgh.

In 1838 he was awarded the goldKeith Medalby the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his paper "On the Laws by which water opposes Resistance to the Motion of Floating Bodies". He was elected aFellow of the Royal Societyin June 1849 forMemoirs on "The great Solitary Wave of the First Order, or the Wave of Translation" published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and of several Memoirs in the Reports of the British Association.[44]

In 1995, the aqueduct which carries theUnion Canal– the same canal where he observed his Wave of Translation – over the Edinburgh Bypass (A720) was named theScott Russell Aqueductin his memory. Also in 1995, the hydrodynamic soliton effect was reproduced near the place where John Scott Russell observed hydrodynamic solitons in 1834.

A building atHeriot-Watt Universityis named after him.

In 2019 he was inducted into theScottish Engineering Hall of Fame[45]

Publications[edit]

His 1844 paper has become a classical paper and is quite frequently cited insoliton-related papers or books even after more than one hundred and fifty years.

  • Russell, J. Scott (1845). "Report on Waves".Report of the fourteenth meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, York, September 1844(PDF).London: John Murray. 311–390, Plates XLVII–LVII.
  • Russell, J. Scott (1864).The Modern System of Naval Architecture.London: Day and Son.OCLC80429969.
  • Russell, J. Scott (1885).The Wave of Translation in the Oceans of Water, Air, and Ether.London: Trübner & Co.OCLC39005948.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^"RINA founder's final resting place - RINA News".RINA founder’s final resting place.22 February 2022.
  2. ^Emmerson 1977,p. 7
  3. ^"Obituary: John Scott Russell FRS, 1808 - 1882".Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers.87(1887): 427–440. 1887.doi:10.1680/imotp.1887.21314.ISSN1753-7843.Retrieved10 August2023.
  4. ^Emmerson 1977,p. 260
  5. ^Ainger, p. 87. Some two hundred love letters from the two women to Sullivan have survived.
  6. ^ Russell, Norman Scott (1864)."On the relative merits of broadside guns and turret guns".Institution of Naval Architects.4:161–7.
  7. ^ Weeks, Lyman Horace (2010).History of Automobile and its inventors.Tec Books. p. 85.ISBN9783861952428.
  8. ^"Steam Carriage, 1834 – Mitchell Library, Glasgow Collection".TheGlasgowStory.Retrieved29 March2019.
  9. ^Russell (1845)
  10. ^This passage has been repeated in many papers and books on soliton theory.
  11. ^Bidone, G. (1826)."Experiences sur le Remou, et sur la Propagation des Ondes"[Experiments on the Swell, and on Wave Propagation].Memorie della Reale Academia delle Scienze di Torino(in French).25:21–112.Retrieved5 August2023.
  12. ^Goda, Y. (1999).“Ba động vấn đề” の lịch sử đích 変 thiên[On the Historical Development of the Mathematical Theory of Water Waves](PDF)(in Japanese). Tokyo:Japan Society of Civil Engineers.Retrieved5 August2023.
  13. ^Goda, Y. (1999)."On the Historical Development of the Mathematical Theory of Water Waves".35th Summer Training Course Lecture Collection, Japan Society of Civil Engineers Coastal Engineering Committee.Retrieved5 August2023– via TU Delft Repository.
  14. ^Brewster, D. (1826).The Edinburgh Journal of Science.Edward Lumley.Retrieved5 August2023.
  15. ^Bazin, Henry(1862). "Expériences sur les ondes et la propagation des remous".Comptes Rendus des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences(in French).55:353–357.
  16. ^Bazin, H.É.; Darcy, H.P.G. (1863).Recherches Hydrauliques: Rapport fait à l'académie des sciences dans ses séances des 27 juillet et 3 août 1863 sur un mémoire de M. Bazin, sur le mouvement de l'eau dans les canaux découverts[Hydraulic Researches: Report made to the academy of sciences in its sessions of 27 July and 3 August 1863 on a memoir of Mr. Bazin, on the movement of water in open channels] (in French). Institut impérial de France.Retrieved11 August2023.
  17. ^Olivier, E. (1869).Verslag aan de Fransche academie van wetenschappen over het gedeelte der verhandeling van Bazin, betrekkelijk de opstuwingen en de voortbeweging der golven[Report to the French Academy of Sciences on the portion of Bazin's treatise, relating to surges and the propagation of waves] (in Dutch). Koninklijk Instituut van Ingenieurs.Retrieved11 August2023.
  18. ^Lord Rayleigh(1876). "On waves".Philosophical Magazine.Series 5.1(4): 257–279.
  19. ^Boussinesq, J.(1871)."Théorie de l'intumescence liquide, applelée onde solitaire ou de translation, se propageant dans un canal rectangulaire".Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences.72:755–759.
  20. ^Korteweg, D.J.;de Vries, G.(1895)."On the Change of Form of Long Waves advancing in a Rectangular Canal and on a New Type of Long Stationary Waves".Philosophical Magazine.5th Series.39(240): 422–443.doi:10.1080/14786449508620739.
  21. ^Darrigol (2005)
  22. ^Remoissenet, M. (1999).Waves called solitons: Concepts and experiments.Springer. p.11.ISBN9783540659198.
  23. ^See e.g.:
    •Maxworthy, T. (1976). "Experiments on collisions between solitary waves".Journal of Fluid Mechanics.76(1): 177–186.Bibcode:1976JFM....76..177M.doi:10.1017/S0022112076003194.S2CID122969046.
    •Fenton, J.D.; Rienecker, M.M. (1982). "A Fourier method for solving nonlinear water-wave problems: application to solitary-wave interactions".Journal of Fluid Mechanics.118:411–443.Bibcode:1982JFM...118..411F.doi:10.1017/S0022112082001141.S2CID120467035.
    •Craig, W.; Guyenne, P.; Hammack, J.; Henderson, D.; Sulem, C. (2006). "Solitary water wave interactions".Physics of Fluids.18(57106): 057106–057106–25.Bibcode:2006PhFl...18e7106C.doi:10.1063/1.2205916.
  24. ^ Fishbourne, E. G. (1846).Lectures on Naval Architecture.Smith.
  25. ^ Griffiths, John W. (1852).Treatise on Marine and Naval Architecture(3rd ed.). pp. 152–3.
  26. ^Scott Russell, John (1848)."On certain effects produced on sound by the rapid motion of the observer".Report of the Eighteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.18(7). John Murray, London in 1849: 37–38.Retrieved8 July2008.
  27. ^ Scott Russell, John (1841).On the Nature, Properties, and Applications of Steam, and on Steam Navigation.A. and C. Black.
  28. ^abc "Obituary, John Scott Russell".Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers.87:427–440. 1882.doi:10.1680/imotp.1887.21314.
  29. ^ "The Royal Institution of Naval Architects and its Work - 1860-1960 - A Brief Historical Note".RINA.Retrieved3 January2014.
  30. ^Emmerson 1977,p. 166
  31. ^Emmerson 1977,p. 63
  32. ^ ROLT, L.T.C. (1957).Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
  33. ^Emmerson 1977,p. 75
  34. ^Rolt, L. T. C.(1970).Isambard Kingdom Brunel: A Biography.London: Longman. p. 257.ISBN978-0-14-007986-9.
  35. ^ Dibnah, Fred (2010).Fred Dibnah's Age Of Steam.Ebury Publishing. p. 147.ISBN9781409071891.
  36. ^ "On Long and Short Ironclads (discussion)".Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects.X:77. 1869.
  37. ^ Scott Russell, John (1861)."On the professional problem presented to naval architects in the construction of iron cased vessels of war".II:17.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
  38. ^ Scott Russell, John (1861).The Fleet of the Future:Iron or Wood.
  39. ^ Russell, John Scott (1869)."On Railway Communication across the Sea".Trans Institution of Naval Architects.10:47–58.
  40. ^ "The Dover Train Ferry Dock".8 July 2012.Retrieved3 January2014.
  41. ^Hansen, Clas Broder (1991),German Passenger Liners 1816-1990.West Chester, Pa.: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., p. 26. ISBN 0-88740-325-5.
  42. ^Hilton, George W (1962).The Great Lakes Car Ferries.Berkeley, Calif.: Howell-North Books, pp. 1, 69-71.
  43. ^Emmerson 1977,p. 280
  44. ^"Library and Archive Catalogue".The Royal Society.Retrieved10 October2010.[permanent dead link]
  45. ^"Inductees".

Sources[edit]

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