William Jolly

December 2, 1922 (age 80)

Plymouth, United Kingdom

In his early years, William Percy Jolly left school for a time to be a dockyard worker and civil service clerk. After that, he joined the Royal Navy and became a Special Branch radar officer. Then, he embarked on a teaching career, first at the Royal Naval College (now the Old Royal Naval College), where he was a lecturer and then a professor of physics and electrical engineering until 1969, and then at King's College London, where he spent the next twenty years as a visiting professor of electronics and electrical engineering. William's early writings, such as Physics for Electrical Engineers (1961; second edition, 1970) and Low Noise Electronics (1967), concerned his area of study. His work Marconi: A Biography (1972) was therefore not a surprising stretch. His next biography, Sir Oliver Lodge: Psychical Researcher and Scientist (1974), is about the radio inventor's predecessor. Besides, he wrote a biography of industrialist William Hesketh Lever and a popular book about a famous zoo pachyderm, Jumbo (1976). Later, he wrote business books, but the last project he was working on at the time of his death was a fictionalized story about Queen Henrietta Maria's court dwarf, Sir Jeffrey Hudson. It's also worth noting, that William co-founded a software company that designed an educational virtual physics laboratory.

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Photos
Works

Main Photo

School period

Gallery of William Jolly

Plymouth College, Ford Park, Plymouth PL4 6RN, United Kingdom

William Percy studied at Plymouth College.

College/University

Gallery of William Jolly

Hele Rd, Exeter EX4 4JS, United Kigdom

William attended Exeter College until the beginning of World War II. When the war was over, he was able to return to Exeter, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics in 1949.

Career

Achievements

Membership

Awards

Other Photos

Other photo of William Jolly

Hele Rd, Exeter EX4 4JS, United Kigdom

William attended Exeter College until the beginning of World War II. When the war was over, he was able to return to Exeter, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics in 1949.

Other photo of William Jolly

Plymouth College, Ford Park, Plymouth PL4 6RN, United Kingdom

William Percy studied at Plymouth College.

Connections

William Percy Jolly

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also known as W. P. Jolly

educator engineer author

Background

William Percy Jolly was born on the 2nd of December, 1922 in Plymouth, United Kingdom.

Education

William Percy studied at Plymouth College but he left it later. Then, he returned to school, attending Exeter College until the beginning of World War II. When the war was over, he was able to return to Exeter, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics in 1949.

Education period of William Jolly in Exeter College

Career

In his early years, William Percy Jolly left school for a time to be a dockyard worker and civil service clerk. After that, he joined the Royal Navy and became a Special Branch radar officer. Then, he embarked on a teaching career, first at the Royal Naval College (now the Old Royal Naval College), where he was a lecturer and then a professor of physics and electrical engineering until 1969, and then at King's College London, where he spent the next twenty years as a visiting professor of electronics and electrical engineering.

William's early writings, such as Physics for Electrical Engineers (1961; second edition, 1970) and Low Noise Electronics (1967), concerned his area of study. His work Marconi: A Biography (1972) was therefore not a surprising stretch. His next biography, Sir Oliver Lodge: Psychical Researcher and Scientist (1974), is about the radio inventor's predecessor. Besides, he wrote a biography of industrialist William Hesketh Lever and a popular book about a famous zoo pachyderm, Jumbo (1976). Later, he wrote business books, but the last project he was working on at the time of his death was a fictionalized story about Queen Henrietta Maria's court dwarf, Sir Jeffrey Hudson.

It's also worth noting, that William co-founded a software company that designed an educational virtual physics laboratory.

Achievements

William Percy Jolly was an outstanding engineer, educator, and well-known author. Also, he was notable for being the co-founder of a software company that designed an educational virtual physics laboratory.