author

Thomas William Benson

b. 1894

Best known for a compact 1919 guide to selenium cells, this early technical writer helped explain a new and little-understood technology in practical terms. His work captures a moment when photoelectric devices were still experimental and full of promise.

1 Audiobook

Selenium cells : the construction, care and use of selenium cells with special reference to the Fritts cell

Selenium cells : the construction, care and use of selenium cells with special reference to the Fritts cell

by Thomas William Benson

About the author

Thomas William Benson was born in 1894 and is credited with the 1919 book Selenium Cells: The Construction, Care and Use of Selenium Cells with Special Reference to the Fritts Cell. The book focuses on how selenium cells worked, how they were made, and how they could be tested and used, suggesting a writer deeply interested in hands-on electrical experimentation.

Reliable biographical details about his wider life and career are hard to confirm from the sources found here, so it is safest to remember him mainly through that surviving work. Even so, the book stands as an accessible snapshot of early twentieth-century interest in light-sensitive electrical devices and the practical problems of building them.