author
George Forbes
1849–1936
A Victorian-era Scottish engineer and astronomer, he helped turn electric power from a bold idea into working systems used on a grand scale. He also wrote widely on science and took part in major astronomical expeditions, bringing a sense of adventure to both engineering and discovery.
2 Audiobooks
History of Astronomy
by George Forbes
Adventures in Southern Seas: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century
by George Forbes
About the author
Born in Edinburgh in 1849, George Forbes became known as a remarkably wide-ranging scientist: an electrical engineer, astronomer, inventor, explorer, and writer. He studied at St Andrews and Cambridge, and early in his career he was appointed professor of natural philosophy at what is now the University of Strathclyde.
Forbes played an important part in the early development of electric power systems. He is especially remembered for influential work on large-scale electrical transport, including proposals connected with the London Underground, and for his broader contributions to electrical engineering at a time when the field was rapidly taking shape. Alongside that work, he pursued astronomy with equal seriousness, joining the British expedition to observe the 1874 transit of Venus from Hawaii.
He also wrote books and popular science works that helped bring technical subjects to a wider audience. By the time of his death in 1936, Forbes had built a reputation as one of those rare figures who could move easily between theory, practical invention, and public explanation.