The men’s group visit a plaque to Oliver Heaviside in Camden Street

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HISTORIANS are paying tribute to an “electrical genius” of Camden Town on the 100 year anniversary of his death.

Oliver Heaviside is described in an English Heritage plaque on his home in Camden Street as “a theorist of telecommunications”.

A legend in his field, he made several seminal advancements in mathematics and inventions despite being regarded as a radical who was at odds with the scientific establishment.

His greatest work was the coaxial cable – which continues to be used today – that allowed for transmissions of signals in telephones, the internet, radio, computers and television.

Ray Atkins, from the Castlehaven Men’s Group which has been researching Mr Heaviside, said: “You couldn’t watch television without a coaxial cable. The BBC couldn’t even transmit.

“He lived in Camden Street, then Plender Street, which was called King Street at that time. There are five plaques in this area for him.

“He is one of the most important people of Camden Town. When you look at Camden Town, you have actresses and actors and all that. But this man was an inventor. He trained himself. He never married. It’s an incredible story.”

Oliver Heaviside

Mr Atkins is part of group of historians that regularly meet-up and go on excursions to discover more about Camden’s history.

Mr Atkins said: “I love going around because I’m always seeing things and I’m always on the look out.

“The problem is unless you’ve got this ‘Alert Syndrome’, I think they call it, you will miss a lot of things. I was in Hammersmith the other day, I saw this big crowd of people queueing up at a shop. There were 100 people there but I was the only one on the bus that looked and saw this queue.”

Born in Camden Town, Mr Heaviside left school at 16 and pursued his studies while leading a solitary life in his home.

He was partially deaf after contracting Scarlet Fever as a child.

After a life lived in Camden Town, he died aged 74 in a nursing home in Torquay in February 1925.

Hugh Griffiths, Professor of Electronic Engineering at University College London, gave a talk to the Camden History Society about Mr Heaviside last week.

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