John Scott Russell

HMS Warrior was launched in 1860, the world's first wholly ironclad battleship; it was designed by Russell, who may be regarded as the first naval architect.

He was born on 8 May, 1808, in Glasgow; 16 years later he had graduated from Glasgow University. Another 8 years on and he was Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh, researching into water waves and their interaction with ships' hulls. By the 1830s and 40s, steell was king in Central Scotland, to be followed quickly and logically by shipbuilding. Russell's timing was perfect.

He designed new hulls while working in Scottish shipbuilding yards before moving south to London in 1844, where he became a shipbuilder on the Thames. He designed, or co-designed a numbet of ships, including The Great Eastern (1856), and HMS Warrior (1860).

His magnum opus was the three-volume Modern System of Naval Architecture (1865-65).

He died at Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight, on 8 June, 1882.

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