David Edward Hughes, F. R. S., 1831-1900

Abstract

David Edward Hughes (F.R.S. 1880, Royal Medallist 1885 and Benefactor commemorated by the Hughes Medal) was born at Green-y-Ddwyryd, near Cor wen, North Wales on 16 May 1831. His grandfather had been a bootmaker in Bala and his father, David Hughes, continued his business but later moved to London. When Hughes was seven the family emigrated to the U.S.A. and settled in Virginia where he received his education. From his father he inherited a very delicate musical ear which was to prove of great value to him in his later experimental work. He also possessed a gift for improvizing tunes and this drew the attention of a German pianist, well-known at the time, who was sufficiently impressed to obtain for him, at the age of nineteen, the professorship of mucic in St Joseph’s College, Bardstown, Kentucky. Along with his musical activities he also developed a love of making mechanical and electrical experiments. After a year, he was offered the Chair of Natural Philosophy, and so he gave lectures in physics as well as music. His experiments grew until they absorbed so much of his interest that in order to devote more time to them and avoid teaching duties, he resigned and moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he taught music to private pupils only, spending his spare time in experiments with simple apparatus that he constructed himself.