Background
James Alfred Ewing was born on March 27, 1855 in Dundee, Scotland. His father, James Ewing, was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland; his mother was Marjory Ferguson. Both of his brothers became clergymen.
1878
22-26 George St, Edinburgh EH2 2PQ, Scotland
Ewing was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1878.
1887
6-9 Carlton House Terrace, St. James's, London SW1Y 5AG, England
Ewing was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1887.
46 Bell St, Dundee DD1 1HF, Scotland
Ewing studied at the Dundee high school.
Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh EH8 9YL, Scotland
Ewing went to the University of Edinburgh on an engineering scholarship. A good student, he came under the influence of Peter Tait and Fleeming Jenkin.
A portrait of Ewing.
A photo of Ewing.
A photo of Ewing.
For his service in Japan Ewing received the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure.
Ewing received the John Scott Medal in 1907.
A portrait of Ewing.
The James Alfred Ewing Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers has been awarded for specially meritorious contributions to the science of engineering in the field of research since 1938.
James Alfred Ewing was born on March 27, 1855 in Dundee, Scotland. His father, James Ewing, was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland; his mother was Marjory Ferguson. Both of his brothers became clergymen.
Ewing studied at West End Academy and the Dundee high school, and then went to the University of Edinburgh on an engineering scholarship. A good student, he came under the influence of Peter Tait and Fleeming Jenkin.
Ewing did some early research with Jenkin on the harmonic analysis of vowel sounds (using the traces produced by Edison’s phonograph). Through Jenkin, Ewing came in contact with William Thomson and participated in three expeditions for laying transatlantic telegraph cables.
Following Jenkin’s recommendation, Ewing went to Japan in 1878 as professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Tokyo. The university provided Ewing with the means to establish a seismological observatory and, beginning in the winter of 1879-1880, he erected instruments and recorded earthquakes. Ewing was especially eager to obtain a continuous record of motion during an earthquake, and he devised a new type of seismograph for this purpose. In the latter part of his stay in Tokyo he was involved in teaching physics and began his experimental study of magnetism.
Ewing returned to England in 1883, after five years in Japan. At first he held the chair of engineering at the University of Dundee and continued his research on magnetism. In 1890 Ewing was made professor of mechanism and applied mechanics at Cambridge University. There was at the time disagreement within the university over its involvement with engineering education, and there were some w'ho believed that the subject had no place at Cambridge. During Ewing’s tenure engineering became accepted, and in 1892 the mechanical sciences tripos was established.
Ewing was director of naval education from 1903 to 1916. Lord Selborne and Admiral John Fisher appointed him to this position as part of their program to reform education in the British navy and to provide training in science and engineering. During World War I he was in charge of “Room 40,” a group that intercepted and deciphered German messages.
From 1916 to 1929 Ewing was principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh and was active in its expansion - constructing new buildings, founding new chairs, and enlarging the staff.
Ewing began his research on magnetic hysteresis through a project to study the effect of stress on the thermoelectric properties of metals. In 1881 he discovered that the thermoelectric effect lags behind the applied stress. He next suggested that other pairs of variables might also be related in such a cyclic manner, and he studied the transient currents produced by twisting a magnetized wire. He found a lag here also and introduced the term hysteresis, from the Greek word meaning “to be late,” to describe it. Ewing then turned to the study of hysteresis in magnetization. He observed in 1882 that the area enclosed by the hysteresis loop is proportional to the work done during a complete cycle of magnetization and demagnetization. In 1885 he presented an important paper on this topic to the Royal Society.
The lag, in some processes, between a force and its effect was known in Germany before Ewing’s experiments, and Kohlrausch had invented the term elastische Nachwirkung for it in 1866. In his 1885 paper Ewing noted that Emil Warburg had independently discovered magnetic hysteresis and had emphasized the physical importance of the area of the hysteresis loop (“Magnetische Untersuchungen,” in Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 13).
Ewing was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1878 and Fellow of the Royal Society in 1887.
On appointment to head the newly created Admiralty codebreaking department, the Director of Naval Intelligence, Henry Oliver, described him as "too distinguished a man to be placed officially under the orders of the Director of Intelligence or Chief of Staff."
Ewing's first wife, Annie, was an American, a great great niece of George Washington. She died in 1909 and, in 1912, he married Ellen, the surviving daughter of his old friend and patron, John Hopkinson. He had two children with his first wife, Maud and Alfred.