Clemens Herschel

The practical engineering work of Clemens Herschel covered the extraordinarily long period of sixty-six years. The equally extraordinary scope of that work may be judged from a letter-head of 1871, lately unearthed by the Society of Civil Engineers, which invites professional engagements in “hydraulic engineering, iron and other bridges and roofs, roads, river and harbor improvements, civil engineering in all its branches.” But it was in the larger problems of utilizing water power that Herschel made his mark. His supervision of the power system at Holyoke became a school for investigating the principles of power measurement and distribution. It was natural that, later on, Herschel should have been the man to solve the initial problems of power transmission at Niagara Falls. With a keenly analytic mind and a faculty for clear exposition, Herschel was bound to make his mark on scientific literature. That his published books or papers should have ranged from discussion of “drawbridges and other continuous trusses” to translation from the Latin of Sextus Frontinus’ “Water Supply of the City of Rome” gives at least a partial picture of his varied intellectual activities.

Alexander Dana Noyes
1931 Century Association Yearbook