John Joseph Fahie
John Joseph Fahie (1846-1934)
1846 Born in Tipperary
Educated at the Classical University of Ireland.
1865-7 Attended evening classes where he learnt about magnetism and electricity, while working for the Electric and International Telegraph Co.
1867 he joined the Indo-European Government Telegraph Department and served at Jask as superintendent of the cable station, Shiraz and Teheran.
He developed a system of duplex telegraphy which he operated on the Shiraz-Teheran line, and wrote many articles to the technical press and IEE Journal.
1873 He was elected an Associate of the Society of Telegraph Engineers and a Member in 1877.
1874 he donated £100 to the Society of Telegraph Engineers for the establishment of a premium for the best paper written each year dealing with telegraphy and telephony.
1897 Retired from the Department due to ill health.
He was also a keen student of the history of science, concentrating on the pioneers of inventions such as the electric telegraph, the wireless telegraph and the electric light. In doing so he brought to prominence names that would otherwise have been less well known, including Edward Davy, Henry Staite, William Petrie and D E Hughes.
Fahie also did considerable work on Galileo and published various books.
1934 He died in Broughton in Furness on 12 June, one of the IEE's oldest members.