Joseph Wilson Swan was born on October 31, 1828 in a deluxe house called Pallion Hall, which stood approximately where Pallion Metro station is found today. His family belated moved to Olive Street. His parents were John and Isabella Swan ( née Cameron ). The Swans were better off than most. John ran a successful ironmongers in the center of Sunderland. But they were by no means rich. There were eight little Swans, so a large home and a becoming income were quite necessary .Joseph Swan, pictured in his study. The Mackem inventor pioneered the development of the lightbulb. pic credit: Tyne and Wear Archive and Museum crucially, John ’ randomness income meant that the Swan children could attend school at a time when not everyone could afford to. Joseph was most decidedly bright ( an allow adjective ), insatiably curious and a rapacious proofreader. He besides attended lectures at the Sunderland Atheneum ( this fine build was demolished in 1900 and the site on the corner of Atheneum Street and Fawcett Street is today occupied by Gentoo ). Aged 14 he undertook a six-year apprenticeship with Sunderland pharmacists Hudson and Osbaldiston. unfortunately, both Mr Hudson and Mr Osbaldiston died before the apprenticeship was completed. Matters deteriorated to the point where Swan had to move to Newcastle. In 1846 his baby Elizabeth ’ s husband, John Mawson, offered him a partnership in a pharmaceutical business in Newcastle ’ s Grey Street which is now a hamburger bar. adHide AdMawson and Swan’s shop in Newcastle. pic credit: Tyne and Wear Archive and Museum Swan’s contribution to photography Mawson recognised that Swan was the brains in the equip and encouraged his partner ’ s scientific pursuits. Joseph was fascinated by the latest in photography and began to make collodion, a flammable solution used on photographic plates. Swan did all the function on the material. Yet when it was bottled and sold, the solution was quite unfairly called “ Mawson ’ s Collodion ”. adHide Ad calm, both men were making money. Mawson could have a happy life, on the rear of a Mackem ’ randomness achievements, angstrom long as he didn ’ t do anything silly : like get himself killed while supervising the disposal of a quantity of plunge nitroglycerin .This stone tablet in Sunderland Museum commemorates the genius and beard of local boy Joseph Swan. Alas, in 1867, Mawson got himself killed while supervising the disposal of a quantity of plunge nitroglycerin. Swan ’ s work on the inner light light bulb is widely known. however, he would probably be celebrated today for his workplace in photography, were his achievements therein not outshone by his light bulb. adHide Ad In 1862, he invented a commercially available procedure for carbon paper print in photography. His cognition of silver platitude emulsions led to him patenting the dry plate in 1871, and platitude photographic wallpaper in 1879. You ’ re not reading an academic dissertation hera, thus let ’ s just say that while photography existed before Joseph Swan, he made it quicker, easier and better. The light bulb moment and fame adHide Ad Swan had actually been working on idle bulbs since the age of 21, using a carbonize filament inside a glass beat. Although he had the rudiments correct, it would be a while before he would master it. His easy bulb consequence came when he made his filaments less flammable and therefore safe, when he removed about all of their oxygen ( which is highly flammable ) by means of a vacuum. Clever or what ? His fame spread because wildfire didn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate. In 1879 satirical magazine Punch published a cartoon in which Mr Punch held a “ Swan Lamp ” offering “ new lamps for old ”. In true Punch fashion, it wasn ’ triiodothyronine amusing. Swan obtained british Patent 4933 on November 27, 1880 and his firm in Gateshead was the first in the world to have working lighter bulbs installed. That is how confident he was in the base hit of his invention.
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adHide Ad ‘Fairy lights’ In 1881 London ’ s Savoy Theatre became the first build in the worldly concern to be lit entirely by electricity. Swan supplied about 1,200 of his “ incandescent lamps ”. A year belated, theatre showman Richard D ’ Oyly staged the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Iolanthe. At the testify ’ south London premier fagot characters on stage were festooned in little, battery powered lights created by the Sunderland inventor. Hence the term ‘ fairy lights ’ has been used always since. The brash rival – Thomas Edison adHide Ad A more celebrated inventor, Thomas Edison, had besides carried out experiments on what we now call the lightly medulla oblongata across the Atlantic in the USA. In 1883 they formed the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, which had one of its offices in Sunderland and lasted until 1964. So they must have been pretty good mates. right ? not precisely. In 1882 Edison sued Swan, claiming misdemeanor of Edison ‘s US patent of 1879. But Swan provided prior research and publication, so the US Patents Office found against Edison. hour angle ! back in Britain, roles were reversed when Swan took Edison to court for violation. Swan won again. Two-nil. As part of a settlement the woo forced Edison to enter a partnership with his Mackem rival. finally, the affluent Edison managed to buy out Swan. adHide Ad It ’ s a longer history than that, but in perfume the advanced light bulb was invented by Swan, build on the workplace of others before him including Humphrey Davy. Edison perfected it. Edison was decidedly a ace, with over a thousand patents to his name ( although Swan himself had over 70 ). But he constantly wanted one more and had an casual attitude when it came to claiming credit. He might have taken credit for the wheel, had the bible not mentioned them being attached to chariots ; and Swan wasn ’ t the only other scientist he annoyed. nineteen years younger than Swan, highly confident and about vitamin a meek as Cassius Clay, Thomas Edison was a crack of a serviceman. But the flair from Sunderland calmly – and productively – stood his reason. adHide Ad Swan the man Joseph Swan, obviously quite affable and mild-mannered, married a Liverpool womanhood called Frances White in 1862. They had three children before Frances died in 1868. Their twin sons died soon afterwards. By 1871 he was married again, this clock time to Frances ’ sister Hannah. The knot was tied in Switzerland as such a union was illegal at the time in Britain. It was quite the scandal. The copulate would have five children, one of whom became Sir Kenneth Rayden Swan QC and an adept on patent law. Handy. adHide Ad Joseph Swan was knighted, not before time, in 1904, 10 years after he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Academy. not bad for a Pallion cub. He died aged 85 in Surrey in 1914 where he is buried, but he remain ’ second one of Sunderland ’ s greatest sons.
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I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.
