21 Facts About Alexander Rankine

Alexander Oliver Rankine was a British physicist who worked on the viscosity of gases, molecular dynamics, optics, acoustics and geophysics.

Alexander Rankine studied and worked at University College London, and was a professor of physics at Imperial College London.

Alexander Rankine served in a range of positions with many learned societies, including periods as president of the Physical Society and secretary to the Royal Institution.

Alexander Oliver Rankine was born on 8 December 1881 in Guildford, Surrey, England.

The son of the Reverend John Rankine, a Baptist minister of Scottish descent, Alexander was brought up in and was a member of the Baptist Church.

Alexander Rankine was educated at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, and then studied at University College London, graduating in 1904 with first-class honours in physics.

Alexander Rankine worked under recently appointed UCL professor William Henry Bragg and British-born Canadian physicist Arthur Stewart Eve.

Alexander Rankine worked first at Aberdour on the Firth of Forth in Scotland, then at the Harwich research station, both as part of work by the Admiralty Research Laboratory.

Alexander Rankine's final posting was as Director of the research station at Kingswear.

From 1925 to 1931, Alexander Rankine was additionally Director of the Technical Optics Department at Imperial College.

Alexander Rankine was the second holder of this post, succeeding Frederic John Cheshire, and the department name was changed at his request.

From 1931 onwards, Alexander Rankine was again solely Professor of Physics following the merger of the Technical Optics Department with the Physics Department, with Louis Claude Martin taking over as leader of what was now a postgraduate section.

In 1937, Alexander Rankine resigned from Imperial College to take up a full-time position with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, in which role he made several visits to Persia.

On his departure, Alexander Rankine became Emeritus Professor of Physics at Imperial College, holding that title from 1937 to his death.

Alexander Rankine was involved with the British Association for the Advancement of Science, serving as the Recorder for Section A from 1921 to 1924, and President of Section A in 1932.

Alexander Rankine was Honorary Secretary of both the Physical Society and the Institute of Physics.

Alexander Rankine served as president of the Optical Society and the Physical Society, both of these organisations later merging with the Institute of Physics.

Alexander Rankine was made the Guthrie Lecturer in 1949, delivering the 33rd Guthrie Lecture on 19 March 1949, titled 'Experimental Studies in Thermal Convection'.

Alexander Rankine continued as an advisor for the company until 1954 when his health began to break down.

Alexander Rankine died at the age of 74 in a nursing home in his home town of Hampton, London, on 20 January 1956,.

Alexander Rankine's obituary was published in The Times and in Nature.