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Francis Thomas ('Tom') Bacon

(1904-1992), Scientist

Sitter in 1 portrait
Francis Thomas ('Tom') Bacon was an indirect descendant of the essayist and philosopher Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626). Tom Bacon graduated from the University of Cambridge and in the 1930s became intrigued by the idea of fuel cells while working for the engineering company C.A. Parsons in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Although Sir William Grove had discovered the principle of the fuel cell in 1839, it was considered a scientific curiosity until after the Second World War when Tom Bacon developed the first practical fuel cell at Cambridge University and Marshall of Cambridge. In the 1960s NASA used the ‘Bacon’ fuel cell as the secondary power source in the Apollo program and subsequently in the space shuttles. His main interest in the future application of fuel cells was in distributed energy, energy for remote locations, emergency power and transport.

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Francis Thomas ('Tom') Bacon, by Lucinda Douglas-Menzies - NPG P368

Francis Thomas ('Tom') Bacon

by Lucinda Douglas-Menzies
bromide print, 1987
NPG P368

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