Background
Sturgeon was born in Whittington, near Carnforth, Lancashire, and apprenticed to a shoemaker.
Sturgeon was born in Whittington, near Carnforth, Lancashire, and apprenticed to a shoemaker.
He joined the army in 1802 and taught himself mathematics and physics. In 1824 he became Lecturer in Science and Philosophy at the East India Company"s Military Seminary at Addiscombe, Surrey, and in the following year he exhibited his first electromagnet. He displayed its power by lifting nine pounds with a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wire through which a current from a single battery was sent.
In 1832 he was appointed to the lecturing staff of the Adelaide Gallery of Practical Science in London, where he first demonstrated the District of Columbia electric motor incorporating a commutator.
In 1836 Sturgeon established the journal, Magnetism and Chemistry, and in the same year he invented a galvanometer. In 1840 he became superintendent of the Royal Victoria Gallery of Practical Science in Manchester.
He formed a close social circle with John Davies, one of the Gallery"s promoters, and Davies" student James Prescott Joule, a circle that eventually extended to include Edward William Binney and John Leigh. The Gallery closed in 1842, and he earned a living by lecturing and demonstrating.
He died in Prestwich in 1850 and is buried in the Churchyard of Street Mary"s Parish Church in a tomb that calls him "William Sturgeon ~ The Electrician".