The New International Encyclopædia/Tomlinson, Charles

TOM′LINSON, Charles (1808-97). An English scientist, born in London. He studied science under George Birkbeck, the founder of the London Mechanics' Institute. For a while he had a school with his brother Lewis, at Salisbury. Becoming known for original investigation, he was called to London, where he was appointed lecturer on experimental science at King's College School. In 1872 he was elected to the Royal Society, and in 1874 he took a leading part in founding the Physical Society. As a scientist Tomlinson made valuable contributions to the knowledge of the surface tension of liquids. His last years were devoted to literature, and in 1878-80 he held the Dante lectureship at University College, London. Besides several works on mechanics and the useful arts, he published: The Sonnet, Its Origin, Structure, and Place in Poetry (1874); a translation of Dante's Inferno (1877); The Literary History of the Divine Comedy (1879); Dante, Beatrice, and the Divine Comedy (1894); and a volume of original Sonnets (1881).