William Cecil Dampier, 1867-1952

Abstract

Sir William Dampier was born in 1867 and named William Cecil Dampier Whetham. His early work was published under that name but later he changed his surname to that of his mother’s family. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the Whetham family were small landowners in Dorset, but in the nineteenth century Dampier’s grandfather moved to London and became an important figure in its business life. He was knighted and became Lord Mayor of London. Dampier records that he acted as his grandfather’s page on state occasions. Dampier’s mother came from a Somerset family, one branch of which produced the famous explorer William Dampier. In early youth poor health prevented him from going to a public school, but in 1886 he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge. Here he came under the influence of J. J. Thomson who inspired him with a desire to undertake research in physics. After taking first class degrees in both parts of the Natural Sciences Tripos he started research work in 1889 at the Cavendish Laboratory. His first work was directed to finding out whether there is any slipping at the surface of a tube when a fluid passes through it. It had been thought that fluids which do not wet glass might slip, whereas those which do wet it would not. Dampier showed conclusively that there is no slipping. He next turned to the measurement of the velocity of ions in electrolytic solutions and devised an ingenious method in which direct measurements were made using a coloured solution. These measurements confirmed previous theories put forward by Hittorf and Kohlrausch. These researches led in 1891 to his being elected a fellow of Trinity. He remained a fellow of the college during the whole of the rest of his life