Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/49

 of the electromagnotic theory of radiation first put forward by Professor Clerk Maxwell [q. v.]. He suggested in 1882 the principle of the method of production of 'electric waves' which Hertz used in 1887, and he contributed much himself to our knowledge of their properties. He took a leading part in the discussion of electrolysis, and supported the view, since confirmed, that 'cathode rays' are streams of electrified particles. 'He possessed extraordinary versatility, and in the deepest subjects was more at home than in the trivial,' throwing out luminous suggestions 'with splendid prodigality and rejoicing if they were absorbed and utilised by others.' All his writings — chiefly contributions to the periodicals of scientific societies — have been collected by Sir Joseph Larmor and issued by the Dublin University Press as 'The Scientific Writings of the late George Francis FitzGerald' (1902).

FitzGerald was elected F.R.S. London in 1883, and in 1899 was awarded a royal medal by the society for his investigations in theoretical physics. In 1900 he was made an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He acted as honorary secretary of the Royal Dublin Society from 1881 to 1889, and as registrar of Dublin University School of Engineering from 1886. He was president of the mathematical and physical section of the British Association at Bath in 1888, president of the Physical Society of London in 1892-3, and chairman of the Dublin local section of the Institution of Electrical Engineers on its foundation in 1899. For many years he was examiner in physics in the University of London, and he took a prominent part in the educational affairs of Ireland, serving on the boards of national, of intermediate, and of technical education for Ireland. In educational matters 'self-satisfied unprogressiveness excited his indignation.'

FitzGerald died at 7 Ely Place, Dublin, on 22 Feb. 1901, and was buried at Mount Jerome. He married Harriette Mary, second daughter of John Hewitt Jellett, F.R.S. [q. v.], and had by her three sons and five daughters. His widow was awarded a civil list pension of 100l. in 1903. A charcoal portrait done about 1877 by John Butler Yeats belongs to his brother Maurice. An enlargement of the engraved portrait which forms the frontispiece of the 'Collected Works' hangs in the engineering school of Trinity College, Dublin.

 FITZGERALD, THOMAS NAGHTEN (1838–1908), surgeon, born on 1 Aug. 1838 at Tullamore, Ireland, was son of John FitzGerald of the Indian civil service. After attending St. Mary's College, Kingston, he received his professional education at Mercers' Hospital in Dublin, became L.R.C.S. Ireland in 1857, and obtained a commission in the Army Medical Staff. A sudden attack of illness obliged him to abandon his course at Netley, and he made a voyage to Australia in search of health. Arriving at Melbourne in July 1858, he was immediately appointed house surgeon at the Melbourne Hospital, and held the post for two years, after which he began to practise privately as a surgeon in Lonsdale Street. In 1860 he was appointed full surgeon to the hospital, to which he was elected a consulting surgeon on his resignation in 1900. He was also consulting surgeon to the Queen Victoria, St. Vincent, and Austin hospitals. He excelled in the operative part of his profession, and wrote papers for medical journals on cleft palate, fractured patella, club foot, drilling in bone formations, and like surgical topics. When the medical school was started at Melbourne he proved himself as good a teacher as he was a surgeon. In 1884 he revisited Ireland, and after examination became F.R.C.S. Ireland. He was knighted in 1897 on the occasion of the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. He was president of the Medical Society of Victoria both in 1884 and in 1890, and of the Intercolonial Medical Congress in 1889. In 1900 he went to South Africa as consulting surgeon to the imperial forces then engaged in the Boer war, and for his services was made C.B. He published in the 'Intercolonial Medical Journal of Australasia' (1 Dec. 1900) an interesting account of his experiences in South Africa, in which the work of the Royal Army Medical Corps and the nursing staff was commended. He died on 8 July 1908 on board the s.s. Wyreema between Cairns and Townsville, while on a voyage for his health. He was buried in the Melbourne general cemetery. He married in 1870 Margaret, daughter of James Robertson, Launceston, Tasmam'a, and by her, who died in 1890, he had issue three daughters. 