Background
Thomas Ernest Stanton was born on December 12, 1865, in Atherstone, Warwickshire, England, the son of Thomas Stanton, plumber and glazier and his wife Mary Ann Wagstaff.
1928
Stanton was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his service in World War I and knighted in 1928.
Victoria University of Manchester, Manchester, England, United Kingdom
From 1884 to 1891 Stanton studied at Owens College, Manchester (now Victoria University of Manchester).
University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Stanton received his Doctor of Science degree from University College, Liverpool in 1908.
Royal Society, 6–9 Carlton House Terrace, London, United Kingdom
Stanton was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1914.
Sir Thomas Edward Stanton, (1865-1931)
aerodynamicist engineer physicist scientist
Thomas Ernest Stanton was born on December 12, 1865, in Atherstone, Warwickshire, England, the son of Thomas Stanton, plumber and glazier and his wife Mary Ann Wagstaff.
Stanton was educated at Atherstone Grammar School and then studied at Owens College, Manchester (1884–1891). In 1896 he was appointed senior lecturer at University College, Liverpool, where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Science in 1908.
While a student at Owens, Stanton was as an article pupil at Gimson and Co. Engineers, Leicester (1884–1887). He began his academic career as demonstrator in the Whiteworth Engineering Laboratory at Owens College (1891–1896), then advanced steadily; senior lecturer in engineering at University College, Liverpool (1896–1899); professor of civil and mechanical engineering, University College, Bristol (1899–1901); and superintendent of the engineering department at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington (1901–1930).
At Owens College, Stanton was assistant to Osborne Reynolds and later experimentally establish the latter’s theoretical laws of fluid flow in pipes. He was associated with the National Physical Laboratory from its inception in 1901. Now administered by the Department of Trade and Industry it was originally established under the overall control of the Royal Society, to pursue scientific research, particularly for application in industry.
Throughout his career, Stanton was occupied with hydrodynamics, strength of materials, heat transmission, and lubrication. His papers on the flow of water in channels of varying cross-section (1902), the resistance of thin plates and models in a current of water (1909), the mechanical viscosity of fluids (1911), and comparisons of surface friction and eddy-making resistance in fluids (1912) led to his definitive text Friction (1923), in which he postulated the boundary theory.
Stanton's major achievements were accomplished after he was involved with aerodynamics from the early years of airplane development. For example, he built a vertical wind tunnel and other equipment for wind velocity investigations. In 1928, although no longer engaged in administration, Stanton made tests for the British Airscrew Panel on airfoils at speeds near the velocity of sound in air.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1914 and also served on its Council in 1927–1929. He was a member of the committee for the restoration of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, in the early 1930’s.
Stanton's experiments in alternating stress and impact testing machines (1905–1906) and on hardness testing (1916–1917) resulted in awards by the Institution of Civil Engineers (1899, 1906, 1921) culminating in the Howard Quinquennial Prize for his research and writing on the properties of iron and steel.
Stanton was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his service in World War I and knighted in 1928.
Stanton's main field of interest was fluid flow and friction, and the related problem of heat transmission.
Stanton was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1914.
In 1892 Stanton worked under Professor Osborne Reynolds as a demonstrator in the Whitworth Engineering Laboratory, and it was during this period that he acquired much of the skill shown in his experimental work.