William Sturgeon (pronounced "stur-jeen"; born May 22, 1783; died December 4, 1850) was an English electrical engineer and inventor. He created the first electromagnet and the first practical electric motor.

Early life

Sturgeon was born on 22 May 1783 in Whittington, near Carnforth, Lancashire. He became apprenticed to a shoemaker.

Career

Sturgeon joined the army in 1802 and taught himself mathematics and physics. In 1824, he became a lecturer in science and philosophy at the East India Company’s Military Seminary in Addiscombe, Surrey. The next year, he showed his first electromagnet. He demonstrated its power by using a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wire connected to a battery to lift nine pounds.

In 1832, he was appointed to the lecturing staff at the Adelaide Gallery of Practical Science in London. There, he first demonstrated a DC electric motor that included a commutator.

In 1836, he started a journal called Annals of Electricity, Magnetism and Chemistry. That same year, he invented a galvanometer.

Sturgeon worked closely with John Peter Gassiot and Charles Vincent Walker. Together, they helped found the London Electrical Society in 1837.

In 1840, he became superintendent of the Royal Victoria Gallery of Practical Science in Manchester. He formed a close social circle with John Davies, one of the Gallery’s promoters, and Davies’s student James Prescott Joule. This group later included Edward William Binney and surgeon John Leigh. The Gallery closed in 1842, and Sturgeon earned a living by lecturing and giving demonstrations.

In 1843, he began a monthly journal called The Annals of Philosophical Discovery and Monthly Reporter of the Progress of Practical Science. The first issue of volume 1 was dated July 1843. Each monthly issue included long original papers (more than five pages), republished papers from foreign journals (translated if needed), and shorter articles. However, the journal was not successful and stopped publishing after the end of volume 1 in December 1843. This single volume is stored in an archive at Internet.org.

Death and burial

William Sturgeon died in Prestwich, Lancashire (which is now part of Greater Manchester) on December 4, 1850. He is buried there in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin. His grave slab is marked with the words "William Sturgeon – The Electrician."