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| Question: Please supply me with some information about Sir Charles Wheatstone? |
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| Answer: Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875) was
born in Gloucester, where his father owned a music shop, so sound
was an early influence on the young Charles. It seems that one
of his first inventions was the "Enchanted Lyre" (1821).
A musician played a piano or a harp in a room above the lyre
and vibrations passed down a brass wire to the lyre which made
it appear as though it were playing itself. He invented the concertina
(1829). He then went on to his study of electricity and became professor of experimental philosophy at King's College, University of London in 1834. He worked with William Cooke to produce the electric telegraph (1837), which some people refer to as the 'Victorian Internet'! In 1838, he invented the stereoscope. Ironically, Charles Wheatstone is perhaps best remembered for the Wheatstone Bridge, used for measuring electrical resistance in a circuit, which had been invented by Samuel Hunter Christie, but named after Wheatstone as he was first to use it. |
