John Alexander McClelland FRS (1 December 1870 – 13 April 1920) was an Irish physicist known for pioneering work on the scattering of β rays, the conductivity of gases, and the mobility of ions.[1]
McClelland was the son of William McClelland of Dunallis, Coleraine and received his education at Queen's College, Galway. In 1895 he received a fellowship from the Royal University of Ireland and spent 1896–1900 at Cavendish Laboratory, while pursuing a research degree at Cambridge.[2][1]
In 1900 he was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics at University College, Dublin.[3] Among his other posts McClelland served as a Commissioner of National Education, a member of the Senate of the National University of Ireland and, in 1907, secretary to the Royal Irish Academy. During World War I he served as a member of the Inventions Committee and the Committee for Organisation in Industrial Research.
In 1909 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society[4] and in 1917 was awarded the Boyle medal of the Royal Dublin Society.[5]
In 1901 married Ina Esdale. They had five children.[3]
John A. McClelland died on 13 April 1920.[6]