Sir (John) Ambrose Fleming

by Walter Benington, for Elliott & Fry
bromide print, 19 February 1932
image size: 200 mm x 141 mm
Purchased, 1996
Photographs Collection
NPG x94117

Sitterback to top

Sir (John) Ambrose Fleming (1849-1945), Electrical engineer and university teacher. Sitter in 8 portraits.

Artistsback to top

Walter Benington (1872-1936), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 67 portraits.
Elliott & Fry (active 1863-1962), Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 10997 portraits.

Placesback to top

Place made: United Kingdom: England, London (Imperial College of Science and Technology, South Kensington, London)

Events of 1932back to top

Current affairs

Sir Oswald Mosley forms the British Union of Fascists. Mosley's party - nicknamed the Black Shirts after their uniform - was founded along the lines of Mussolini's Fascist Party in Italy and called for the replacement of parliamentary democracy with a system of elected executives. During the war Mosley was interned and the BUF was proscribed.

Art and science

John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton 'split the atom'. In fact, Cockcroft and Walton's achievement was to change the nucleus of one element into another by bombarding it with protons, rather than to literally spit an atom apart. Nevertheless 'splitting the atom' has become the popular way of describing this important stage in the development of nuclear technology.

International

Saudi Arabia is formed by the unification of the Kingdoms of Hijaz and Nejd under King Abdul Aziz.
Iraq is granted independence from the British mandate established by the League of Nations in 1919-20.

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