Fleming , Sir , Ambrose , 1849-1945 , Knight , engineer

Ambrose Fleming studied physics and mathematics at University College London and later studied chemistry at the Royal College of Chemistry. In 1877 he was an undergraduate at St John's College Cambridge, where he studied under James Clerk Maxwell. In 1881 he was appointed Professor of Mathematics and Physics at University College Nottingham and in 1883 became a Fellow of St John's College Cambridge. In 1884 Fleming was invited to give a course of lectures on electro-technology at University College London and the following year became the first Professor of Electrical Technology there. Fleming was associated with the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company as scientific adviser from 1899. In 1904 he patented his rectifying valve. In 1926 he resigned his Professorship at University College London. Fleming was knighted in 1929. He was awarded the Ruddell Medal by the Physical Society in 1931, the Franklin Medal by the Franklin Institute, USA, in 1935, and the Kelvin Medal by the three Engineering Institutions of Great Britain in 1935.