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Last month saw the 160th anniversary of a distinguished physicist and engineer known for his pioneering work on the magnetic properties of metals and on hysteresis. Sir James Alfred Ewing, who became both a member and an honorary fellow of the institution, also worked in submarine telegraphy, seismography, naval education and decryption – acquiring the nickname the ‘cipher king’ for his important achievements during the First World War. He was the author of many papers, especially on magnetism, and of well-known textbooks on the steam engine, thermodynamics, refrigeration, and the strength of materials.
Born in Dundee in March 1855, Ewing was awarded the first engineering scholarship to study at the University of Edinburgh. After graduating, he worked as an assistant to Professor Fleeming Jenkin and Sir William Thomson in their work on submarine telegraphy, and took part in the laying of cables to Brazil and Montevideo in Uruguay.
By 1878, he had gone to Tokyo to become professor of mechanical engineering at the recently established Tokyo Imperial University. Here, he worked on seismological matters using instruments he had designed himself for measurement of earthquakes, including the Press-Ewing seismograph.
Ewing also began his studies on the molecular theory of magnetism and on hysteresis. In 1883 he was appointed professor of engineering at University College, Dundee, and then in 1890 became professor of mechanism and applied mathematics at Cambridge, where he was said to have been heavily involved with the forming of the engineering tripos. While at Cambridge, he developed several important types of apparatus for measuring permeability and hysteresis. He published the book The Steam Engine and other Heat Engines. He also held a professorial fellowship at King’s in 1898.
His connection with the IMechE started in 1891, when he was elected a member. He delivered a lecture on the ‘structure of metals’ to the graduates’ section of the institution.
In 1903, the Admiralty sought Ewing’s opinion on naval education, and he was later appointed its director of naval education. He also became a member of the Admiralty’s explosives committee and of the ordnance research board. After WWI broke out in 1914, he established, developed and headed the Admiralty office known as Room 40. Named after his own room number, this group was predominantly responsible for decrypting intercepted German naval messages. In 1917 the team deciphered the Zimmermann telegram – thought to be about a plot whereby Germany would assist Mexico to gain US territory – which was held as one of the great successes of Room 40. His work on this project earned him nicknames such as ‘the cipher king’ and ‘eavesdropper Ewing’.
In 1916, he was appointed principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, but his work at the Admiralty prevented him from taking up the duties involved for another year. After the war, his efforts were focused mainly on reconstructing this university. In 1923, the government’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research appointed him chairman of the bridge stress committee.
Ewing retired in 1929 and lived in Cambridge, where he turned his attention to the work of the low-temperature research station. He also supervised researches on refrigerants at the National Physical Laboratory, and he was a member of the committee on the mechanical testing of timber, appointed in 1929. He was made a freeman of the city of Edinburgh in 1929, and of his native city of Dundee in 1933.
He received many honours during his lifetime, including Companion of the Bath in 1907 and Knight Commander in 1911, and he was involved with other learned societies as well as the IMechE. He had been a fellow of the Royal Society since 1887, receiving the Royal Medal eight years later for his research work on magnetism, and was president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1924 to 1929. In addition, he was a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers and an honorary member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. The latter organisation’s James Alfred Ewing medal, named after him, is presented to engineers who they feel make special meritorious contributions to the science of engineering in the field of research.
Ewing died on 7 January 1935.
The James Alfred Ewing Medal: This medal, designed by Mr John Pinches, together with a bronze replica, is awarded in the discretion of the Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers for specially meritorious contributions to the science of engineering in the field of research. Forst presented in 1938 to Mr C.S. Franklin, formerly chief of the Independent Research Department of the Marconi Company. (By courtesy of Mr Graham Clark, Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers.)