International Story website goes live!

A Principal’s Reception was hosted yesterday (Thursday 21st March) by Senior Vice-Principal Andrea Nolan and Vice-Principal Frank Cotton to thank all of our International Story Editors for their fantastic contribution to the University’s International Story project so far.

http://www.internationalstory.gla.ac.uk/

This reception also signaled the launch of the online resource, which will continue to be updated and added to in the coming year as we uncover new international stories and connections. The website’s features include an interactive map to browse connections by country, which opens up to present a biography of someone associated with that country.

During the reception, Club21 student volunteers, Gabrielle Migdalski and Ianto Jocks both presented their findings and experience as International Story volunteers: Gabrielle’s project researched the influx of Polish students to the University during the 1940s, a period of mass displacements caused by WWII. She highlighted one student record in particular, Maria Kolasa, to highlight what became a family and love story at the University.  Ianto’s project consisted of the transcription and construction of a database of Lord Kelvin’s handwritten student registers (to be made available via the website in the near future), which will contribute not only to the International Story project but potentially to wider academic research. In fact, Andrew Watson attended Kelvin’s class in 1875-6 and has prompted further research to be carried out, which was published recently in the Scotsman.

Here are some photos from the reception:

As the project progresses, we hope the University and wider community will contribute their knowledge of Glasgow’s international connections to further enhance this insightful and exciting online resource.

Rinzaburo Shida, Pioneering Japanese Electrical Engineer

Rinzaburo Shida (1855-1892) was one of the first four Japanese students, sponsored by the Japanese Government in 1880, to attend the University of Glasgow.  Shida studied professors William Ayrton and Henry Dyer at the Imperial College of Engineering (the University of Tokyo) and became the first graduate  to be sent to work with Sir William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) on electromagnetism and telegraphy. Ayrton and Dyer were also former students of Lord Kelvin.

Shida matriculated in session 1880-1881, aged 24, and attended classes in Mathematics and in Natural Philosophy (Physics). He excelled as a student, gaining second place in the senior mathematics class, first place in the first year Natural Philosophy class, first place in higher mathematical class, and winning the Cleland Gold medal for the best experimental investigation of magnetic susceptibility.

On his return to Japan in 1883 he was appointed to Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Imperial College of Engineering (the position formerly held by Ayrton), the first Japanese to teach in the telegraphy department.  Shida led the development of radio technology in Japan: The first transmission experiments, conducted in 1886, were due to Shida and used the conduction method across the River Sumida in Tokyo by immersing electrodes in the water. Shida founded the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan in 1888, and was given the title of Doctor of Engineering. He died of tuberculosis in1892 at the relatively young age of 37.