Birthday profile

Arthur James Arnot

Arthur James Arnot, Scottish-Australian engineer, designed the Spencer Street Power Station (died 1946)

Born
August 26, 1865
Died
October 15, 1946
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1865

About Arthur James Arnot

Arthur James Arnot (26 August 1865 – 15 October 1946) was a Scottish electrical engineer and inventor, best known for patenting the world's first electric drill. He later designed the Spencer Street Power Station. == Biography == Arnot was born in Hamilton, Scotland to William and Elizabeth Helen Arnot. He received his education at the West of Scotland Technical College, Glasgow, while working part-time at an electrical company. In 1889 he traveled to Melbourne, Australia to build the alternating current power plant at Spencer Street. The same year, on 20 August, he and mining engineer W. Blanch Brain patented the electric drill. Originally on a two-year contract by the Union Electric Company, Arnot was appointed City Electrical Engineer in 1891. During the first two years of this tenure he was responsible for the installation of the city's street lighting system. In the years 1894–1901, he designed and later managed the Spencer Street Power Station. From 1901 to 1929 Arnot held the position of Australasian Manager of Babcock & Wilcox.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Arthur James Arnot timeline

  1. Arthur James Arnot (26 August 1865 – 15 October 1946) was a Scottish electrical engineer and inventor, best known for patenting the world's first electric drill.
  2. In 1928, one year before his retirement, Arnot became involved in a corruption scandal over a May 1926 contract acquired by Babcock & Wilcox.

The world when Arthur James Arnot was born

Arthur James Arnot was born in 1865. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1865

  • Best-selling bookAlice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineCivil War ends — Lincoln assassinated
  • Technology milestone13th Amendment abolishes slavery
  • World population~1.45B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderAbraham Lincoln / Andrew Johnson
  • U.S. population33.5M

1865 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Arthur James Arnot's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18652026
Population33.5M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, National Library of Australia Trove, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.