Arthur William Rucker

Sir Arthur William Rucker, also written Rücker, was a British physicist, born in Clapham Park, London, on 23 October 1845 and died at Yattendon in Berkshire on 1 November 1915. He gained his BA at Brasenose College, Oxford, in 1871 and was a Fellow there until 1876, then was Professor of Physics and the first Cavendish Professor at Yorkshire College, Leeds, from 1874 to 1885. From 1886 to 1901 he was Professor of Physics at the Royal College of Science, leaving to become Principal of the University of London. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1884, jointly gave its Bakerian Lecture in 1889 and received its Royal Medal in 1891 for his researches on liquid films and his contributions to knowledge of terrestrial magnetism, and he served as its Secretary from 1896 to 1901. He was knighted in the 1902 Coronation Honours and also stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1885 and 1886.