Adolph Friedrich Lindemann (13 May 1846 – 25 August 1931) was a British engineer, businessman, and amateur astronomer of German origin. He was involved in the Transatlantic telegraph cable project.

Life

Lindemann was born in the Palatinate to a Roman Catholic family established in Alsace-Lorraine under the Comte de Lindemann, who had married into the Cyprien-Fabre shipping family. Lindemann married Olga Noble (1851 – c. 1927), herself heiress to a wealthy New London, Connecticut, engineering family of British origin, and the widow of a banker named Davidson by whom she had produced three children. ^{[1] [2]} Olga was reputedly "vivacious and beautiful". ^[1]

Lindemann had raised capital in the City of London to construct the waterworks in Speyer and Pirmasens; he was also involved in the Transatlantic telegraph cable project. He moved to England in the 1860s and became naturalised a British subject. ^[1] The couple were wealthy, having an annual income of around £20,000 by 1914 (£1.5 million at 2003 prices ^[3]). Olga inherited a mansion near Sidmouth, ^[2] Devon, so her husband took the opportunity to establish a laboratory and astronomical observatory there. On Olga's death, Lindemann donated the observatory to the University of Exeter. ^[1] Lindemann was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society on 14 February 1873. ^[4] He was also elected a fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society on 19 March 1884. ^[5]

Family

The couple had a daughter and three sons, the second of whom, Frederick, was to become a famed physicist, and World War II adviser to Sir Winston Churchill. The youngest brother, Septimus, became something of a playboy on the French Riviera but became a notable agent for the intelligence services in World War II. ^[1] Adolph's only daughter (he had two stepdaughters by his wife's previous marriage), Linda, became a short story writer and playwright, writing under a pseudonym to avoid family disapproval. One of her plays, The Man in the Case, was censored. Her granddaughter is novelist Salley Vickers, and her great-grandson Rupert Kingfisher, the children's writer of Madame Pamplemousse.^{[ citation needed]} Olga was a Protestant and insisted on the children being raised in the Anglican Church. ^[1]

Legacy

• The minor planet 828 Lindemannia is named for him. ^[1]

See also

• Winston Churchill
• Clarendon Laboratory

References

Further reading

• Blake, Robert (May 2006) [2004]. "Lindemann, Frederick Alexander, Viscount Cherwell (1886–1957)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/ref:odnb/34533. Retrieved 18 August 2007. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
• Crowther, J. G. (1965). Statesmen of Science. London: Cresset Press.