John Scott Russell, a British engineer, born in the vale of Clyde, Scotland, in 1808. He graduated at the university of Glasgow in 1824, and was employed as an engineer till 1832, when he became lecturer on natural philosophy at the university of Edinburgh. He claimed to be the discoverer of the " wave principle" in the construction of ships, and Brunei adopted it in the Great Western and in the monster ship Great Eastern, the latter constructed under Mr. Russell's superintendence; and he read in 1857 a paper before the British association on the "Mechanical Structure of the Great Ship." After being manager of a ship-building yard in Greenock for several years, he settled in London in 1844, where he has been extensively engaged in building large steamers. His principal works include "The Modern System of Naval Architecture for Commerce and War" (London, 1864), and "Systematic and Technical Education for the English People" (1869). He has also been engaged in efforts for the improvement of the working classes.