John De Fenton, Bachelor of Philosophy (PhB) or Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS) in 1906. He was the librarian of the Seymour Memorial Library in Johannesburg. This outstanding scientific and technical library was established in 1905 to commemorate the engineer Louis I. Seymour*. De Fenton became a member of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science in 1916 and by 1917 was a member also of the Royal Society of South Africa. He contributed two papers at annual congresses of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science, "Water vapour on Mars" (Report, 1909, pp. 145-151) and "A note on anaesthesia in ancient times" (Report, 1914, pp. 307-313). Two further papers by him on the history of medical services were published in the Transvaal Medical Journal, namely "The evolution of the idea of a hospital" (1906/7, Vol. 2, pp. 163-164, 186-192, and 205-208), and "A Greek hospital 600 years BC" (1908/9, Vol. 4, pp. 285-290)

List of sources:

FamilySearch: John Fenton. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK18-Y2TY

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 8 June 1906, Vol. LXVI, No. 8. retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/66/8/469/1034763

Royal Society of South Africa. Transactions, 1917, Vol. 6, list of members.

South African Association for the Advancement of Science. Report, 1909, 1914, 1918.

Transvaal Medical Journal, 1906/7, Vol. 2 and 1908/9, Vol. 4.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2024-01-26 09:54:21