THE MAN WHO LIT LONDON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 2, 3 January 1931, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE MAN WHO LIT LONDON.

SEBASTIAN DE FERRANTI

Dr. ' Sebastian Dc Fcrranti was the man who lit London when everybody said it could not be done. De Ferranti's name is on many a picce of electrical machinery to-day, but when he took up electrical engineering nearly 50 years ago the industry wais almost as young as he was. It was in 1886 tliat, as a young man of 2"2, hi was made chief engineer to an electrical supply company. While there he became filled with the idea that cheap electricity for all lighting purposes could lie sent all over London if the Central Power Station made current at 10,000 volts. Objectors pointed out that no cables could support such a high voltage. Dr. Fen-anti replied by making cables that could. Then the current flowed, the lanip3 were lit, and with them an electric light which afterwards shone in every city of the world. Many honours came to him, for electric lighting and transmission were onlv a step in his carccr. Twice he wa3 president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers; and Liverpool, where he was born, and University College, London, .where he first learned his electricity, are both proud of him. It is said tint one of his devices must have saved hundreds of lives and has certainly been a means oi safeguarding life in electrical works.