Mel Thompson

Mr Thompson has made major contributions to the precise measurement of physical quantities, particularly electrical, which have formed the basis of a revolution in accurate measurement around the world. His enunciation in 1956 of a new theorem in electrostatics led to a capacitance accurately calculable in terms of length. This and his development of three-terminal capacitors and a. c. bridges incorporating ratio transformers enabled him to relate the 'ohm' to absolute measurements of length and time accurately and simply. His suggestions to use capacitance probes for sensing displacement and the commercial development of his a. c. bridge have greatly increased the accuracies obtainable over a wide range of physical research, e.g. with geophysical tiltmeters, magnetostriction, thermal expansion, pressure gauges. In 1965 he was awarded the Sperry Medal by the Instrument Society of America (jointly with D. G. Lampard) and in 1968 was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Engineering by the University of Hannover, West Germany.

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