|
Was born at Dumbarton,
Scotland, on 4 August 1859, son of George Sutherland, a carver of
figure-heads for ships, and brother of Alexander Sutherland (q.v.). The
family arrived at Sydney in 1864 and removed to Melbourne six years later.
Sutherland, after a few years at the model school, won a government
scholarship and went to Wesley College. The headmaster was M. H. Irving
(q.v.) who had been the second professor of classics at the university of
Melbourne, but the influence of the second master, H. M. Andrew,
afterwards professor of natural philosophy at the same university, was of
more importance to Sutherland. From Wesley he passed on to the university
in February 1876, and three years later graduated with first-class final
honours and the scholarship in natural science, and third-class honours in
engineering. He was then nominated by the Melbourne university council for
the Gilchrist scholarship in England, which was awarded to him and he left
for England in July 1879. Entering as a science student at University
College, London, he came under the influence of Professor Carey Foster,
and in the final examination for the B.Sc. degree took first place and
first-class honours in experimental physics and the clothworkers
scholarship of £50 for two years. Almost at once Sutherland started for
Australia and arrived in Melbourne in February 1882.
Sutherland's home life
meant much to hint for it was a home of affection and culture, every
member of it excelled in either literature, music or art. In July 1882 he
was offered the position of superintendent of the school of mines,
Ballarat, but it was too far from his home and the public library, and the
offer was declined. For many years he earned just enough to pay his way by
acting as an examiner and contributing articles to the press; the rest of
his time was given to scientific research. In 1884 he applied without
success for the chair of chemistry at Adelaide, and in 1888 when Professor
Andrew died he was appointed lecturer in physics at the university of
Melbourne until the chair should be filled. He applied for this position
through the Victorian agent-general in London, but there appears to be
some doubt whether his application ever reached the right quarters.
Professor Lyle was appointed and in 1897, when he was away on leave,
Sutherland was again made lecturer in physics. He had begun contributing
to the Philosophical Magazine in 1885, and on an average about two
articles a year front his pen appeared in it for the next 25 years. For
the last 10 years of his life he was a regular contributor and leader
writer on the Melbourne Age, though he declined all offer of an
appointment on the staff of the paper. His life work was scientific
research and nothing could be allowed to interfere with it. He died
quietly in his sleep on 5 October 1911.
Sutherland was a well-built
man of slightly under medium height, very quiet in manner. The present
writer who met him only once has an abiding memory of his modesty and
charm. He would have been a good musician had he been able to give time to
it, and again he might have been a painter. He had a wide mind which could
take an interest in all the arts, but his real happiness was in his work.
Money and fame meant nothing to him, but the solving of some intricate
problem in science, some increase in the knowledge of the world was
everything. His scientific work was never collected in book form and is
known to few besides his fellow workers. A list of 69 of his contributions
to scientific magazines is given at the end of his biography. One of the
earlier papers to bring Sutherland into notice was on the viscosity of
gases which appeared in the Philosophical Magazine in December
1893. Other important papers dealt with the constitution of water, the
viscosity of water, molecular attractions and ionization, ionic velocities
and atomic sizes. The ordinary reader may refer to a discussion of his
scientific work in chapter VI of his biography, but the full value of it
could only be computed by a physicist willing to collate his papers with
the state of knowledge at the time each was written. It was well known and
valued in England, Germany and America, and at the time of Sutherland's
death he was spoken of as having been "the greatest authority living in
molecular physics" (Professor T. R. Lyle, F.R.S.). He had none of the
vanity that demands results. Quite selfless, he was content to add
something to the sum of human knowledge and to hope that another man would
carry the work further. He never married. |
