Description
The audience depicted in this image includes many famous people from science, industry and politics including Lord Rayleigh, Lord Kelvin and Arthur Balfour, the Prime Minister of the time. While supposedly depicting an actual event, the artist, Henry Jamyn Brooks, wanted to make sure that he did not leave anyone important out, whether or not they were really there or even alive at the time.
These lectures, known as the Friday Evening Discourses were a stage for scientists to show their latest research and were usually loaded with demonstrations. The apparatus would all be set up on the bench before the lecture and the lecturer would come to each experiment in turn. Huge sheets of calico with relevant diagrams helped the audience follow the thread of the lecture.
Dewar was famous for being the first person to liquefy hydrogen by cooling it to 252.87°C. It was a dangerous process: Robert Lennox, one of his assistants, was caught in an explosion and lost an eye. You can see him in the background, turned away from the viewer to hide the scars. Dewar also invented the vacuum (thermos) flask to minimise heat loss and so keep gas-liquid for as long as possible.
See our image key below to discover all the famous people in the audience of this painting.
Image key
List of people (to be used in conjunction with the image key)
1-25
1. Salamons, David
2: Galton, Francis
3. Mond, Robert
4. Bruce, John Mitchell
5. Horner, Maures
6. Church, Arthur
7. Messel, Rudolph
8. Gibbs, W. B.
10. Rigg, Arthur
11. Stirling, James
12. Wolfe-Barry, John
13. (in President's chair) Percy, Henry George, 7th Duke of Northumberland
14. Strutt, Evelyn
15. Thomson, Fanny
16. Thomson, William
17. Huggins, William
18. Lister, Joseph
19. Bramwell, Frederick Joseph
20. Balfour, Arthur James
21. Crookes, William
22. Browne, James Crichton-
23. Strutt, John William
24. Matthey, George
25. Mond, Ludwig
26-50
26. Lodge, Oliver
27. Cathcart, Alan
28. Broun-Morison, John Broun
29. Marconi, Guglielmo
30. Bell, Isaac Lowthian
31. Huggins, Margaret Lindsay
32. Pollock, Mrs Henry
33. Aird, John
33A. Divers, Edward
34. Boys, Charles Vernon
35. Dundas-Grant, James
36. Baker, Benjamin
37. Giffard, Hardinge Stanley
38. Darwin, George
39. Priestley, Eliza
40. Mond, Freda
41. Crookes, Ellen
42. Dewar, Helen Rose
43. Lubbock, John
44. Noble, Andrew
45. Farrer, William
46. Semon, Felix
47. Willoughby, George
48. Fox, Francis
49. Vezey, J. J.
50. Pollock, Edward
51-75
51. Pollock, Mrs. Edward
52. Webster, Richard Everard
53. Kempe, Alfred Bray
54. Kempe, Ida
55. Siemens, Alexander
56. Siemens, Frances
57. Blyth, James
58. Fry, Edward
59. Sanderson, Thomas Henry
60. Hood, Donald W. C.
61. Balfour-Browne, John Hutton
63. Dickson, Charles Scott
64. Lonides, Alexander Constantine
65. Lonides, Euterpe
66. Swan, Joseph Wilson
67 Swan, Hannah
68. McClean, Mrs.
69. McClean, Francis William
70. Goschen, Mrs.
71. Odling, William
72. Buzzard, Thomas
73. Binnie, Alexander Richardson
74. West, Margaret Nanny
75. West, Samuel
76-100
76. Magnus, Philip
77. Laking, Francis Henry
78. Parsons, Charles Algernon
79. Preece, William Henry
80. Beevor, Charles Edward
81. Beevor, Blanche
82. Beevor, S. F.
83. Dundas-Grant, Helen
84. Pidgeon, W. R.
85. Pidgeon, Mrs.
86. Clowes, F.
87. Macnaught, Mrs.
88. Mackenzie Davidson, James
89. Russell, William James
90. Spottiswoode, William Hugh
91. Palmer Thomas, Mrs.
92. Palmer Thomas, R.
93. Bidwell, Shelford
94. Frankland, Percy Faraday
95. Meadows White, Miss.
97. Everett, Joseph David
99. De la Rue, W. W.
100. Stoney, George Johnstone
101-125
101. Moulton, John Fletcher
102. Herbert, George
103. Meldola, Ralph
104. Abney, William
105. Dean, Rosser
106. Tyssen-Amherst, William Amherst
108. Cunynghame, Emily Harriette
109. Cunynghame, Henry Hardinge
110. Roberts, Owen
111. White, William
112. Pollock, Frederick
114. Campbell Swinton, Alan Archibald
115. Braine, Francis Woodhouse
116. Langdon-Davies, C.
117. Frost, William Adams
118. Wallace, Roger
121. Noble, Wilson
123. Western, Miss.
125. Parsons, Laurence
126-142
126. Lys Smith, F
127. Savage Landor, Arnold Henry
128. Baldwin, H.
129. Lawson, Mrs Frank
131. Chambers, George Frederick
132. Hawksley, Charles
134. Rücker, Arthur
135. Mackenzie, Alexander
139. Fowler, Richard
140. Heath, John William Edward
141. Lennox, Robert N.
142. Dewar, James