HODGKINSON, EATON (178D 1861). An English civil engineer. born at Ander ton, Cheshire. After a rather desultory schooling in wid•], he displayed in aptitude for loathe mat ics. he undertook a course of scient i tie investi gation that soon won him distinction. His first important work was on strains and the strength of materials. oil which subject lie read a paper before the Literary and Philosophical Society of _NI:undies:ter in 1822. in 1828 and in 1830, re spectively, he gave to the same society the re sults of his researches on the forms of the cate nary in so-Ten-dim bridges. and on the strength and hest forms of iron beam., in 1847 lie was appointed professor of the mechanical prineiples of engineering at University College. London. From 1817 to 1849 he was one of the royal corn tnissioners engaged in inquiring into the applica tion of iron in railroad structures. From 1848
to 1850 lie was president of the Alanchester Literary and Philosophical Society. He was a member of the Geological Society, of the Royal Irish Academy, and an honorary metnber of the Institute of Civil Engineers. Ile made invest iga• lions as to the temperature of the earth in deep !nines which store of especial interest. His ex periments on the strength of materials, :mil especially his determination of the 'neutral line' in the section of fracture, NS it 11 (111. /1.,1111. Ilt de signs for beams, mark an important step in the science of modern engineering. Ile published Research( S oa ihl and Other Properties of Cast l ( I Sili) . the "Life if Eaton Iliolgkinson," in the .1Iemoirs of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Sorict y, third series, No. ii. 1862).