Eaton Hodgkinson, an English physicist, born at Anderton, near Northwich, in Cheshire, Feb. 26, 1789, died at Broughton, near Manchester, June 18, 1861. He was intended for the church, but, possessing a great taste for mechanics, soon determined to make it his exclusive study. Among the first fruits of his researches was the discovery that by giving to cast-iron rails and beams the form of an inverted T (X ) a gain of strength equivalent to upward of 40 per cent. would be secured. Continuing his investigations on the properties of iron, he instituted a series of 227 experiments with reference to the strength of columns, from which he deduced formulas for solid and hollow iron columns, which have been generally adopted and formed into tables for ready reference. His published account of these researches procured him the gold medal and the membership of the royal society. In 1845 he was employed by Robert Stephenson to prepare the data for the construction of the celebrated tubular Britannia bridge, and for these calculations received a medal at Paris in 1855. In 1847 he was appointed on the royal commission to inquire into the application of iron to railway structures, and added to its report memoranda of great value.

His papers on the use of iron for engineering and architectural purposes, interspersed through the "Transactions " of the British association and other learned bodies, are of high authority.