Bindon Blood Stoney
Bindon Blood Stoney FRS was an Irish engineer who also made some significant contributions to astronomy.Life
In 1850-52, prior to beginning his engineering work, Stoney assisted William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse at Parsonstown. There he accurately mapped the spiral form of the Andromeda Galaxy and observed 105 NGC objects and 8 IC objects. 91 NGC objects and all IC objects were new.
In 1853, Stoney was Resident Engineer on the Boyne Viaduct under James Barton.
In 1856, he was Assistant Engineer and in 1859 Executive Engineer, to the Dublin Ballast Board.
In 1867, he was Chief Engineer at Dublin Port.
He designed the quay walls at the River Liffey, making it a deepwater port.
He designed Grattan Bridge, O'Connell Bridge, and Butt Bridge.
He invented a diving bell, and means to use precast concrete.
Stoney was elected Fellow of the Royal Society on 2 June 1881. In 1874, was awarded the Telford medal and Telford premium of the Institute of Civil Engineers for a paper documenting his work on the northern quays.
Stoney married Susannah Frances Walker, on 7 October 1879; they had four children.
He is buried in Mount Jerome cemetery.
His brother was the physicist George Johnstone Stoney known for coining the term electron for the fundamental unit of electricity. He was also the uncle of another Irish physicist George Francis FitzGerald, the son of his sister Anne Frances.
His niece was Edith Anne Stoney, a pioneer medical physicist.
