T. O'Conor Sloane
Thomas O'Conor Sloane, Ph.D. (November 21, 1851- August 7, 1940) was the editor of Amazing Stories from 1929 through 1938. In that year, publisher Ziff-Davis moved production of the magazine to Chicago and named Raymond A. Palmer as Sloane's successor.
Sloane was involved with Amazing Stories from the very beginning, serving as Hugo Gernsback's managing editor. His own role in the magazine production grew and in 1929, he was named editor. Shortly after, in an editorial, he wrote that he believed that man would never achieve spaceflight. Nevertheless, he published first stories by luminaries such as Jack Williamson, John W. Campbell, Jr., Clifford D. Simak, and E.E. "Doc" Smith.
There is evidence suggesting that Sloane collaborated with Gernsback in originating the term scientifiction which was superseded by science fiction to describe this genre.
Sloane was the author of The Standard Electrical Dictionary, first published in 1892, as well as How to become a Successful Electrician, Arithmetic of Electricity, Electricity Simplified, Electric Toy Making and dozens more, including a translation of Saint Francis of Assisi: A Biography written by Johannes Jorgensen into English. Sloane was also a prodigious contributor to many and various scientific and other publications such as the Encyclopedia Britannica, Alden's Cyclopedia and The Catholic Encyclopedia.
Sloane was the editor of Scientific American and The Experimenter, an associate editor of Science and Invention and served on the editorial staff of several more popular periodicals such as Everyday Engineering Magazine.
Sloane was a professor of natural sciences at Seton Hall University and held an A.M., an E.M., and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering, as well as an LL.D.
Sloane's best known invention was the Self-Recording Photometer for Gas Power - the first instrument ever that recorded mechanically on an index card the illuminating power of gas.[1] . In 1877, he described a new process for determining sulphur in natural gas.
Sloane's son, John Eyre Sloane, was married to Thomas Alva Edison's daughter Madeleine in 1914; their four sons were Edison's only grandchildren.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ The New York Times, et al.
- ^ Davis & Sanford (August 8, 1940). "Dr. T.O'C. Sloane, Scientist, Author". The New York Times: p. 19. Inventor of the Self-Recording Photometer for Gas Power Dies in South Orange. Wrote Technical Books. Ex-Associate Editor of Science and Invention Translated Foreign Works as Hobby.
