George Forbes (1849-1936) was a writer of sea stories and astronomy. He was respected for his knowledge of both subjects. Born in Edinburgh, he was educated at Edinburgh Academy, the University of St Andrews, Christ's College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge.
In 1873 he became Professor of Natural Philosophy at Anderson's University, Glasgow, lecturing on using electricity to power transportation and being supervising engineer for several pioneering hydroelectric schemes. He was consulting engineer on the Niagara Falls hydroelectric scheme.
After leaving Anderson's University he devoted himself to electrical power engineering which eventually led to the entire London Underground following his advice and using electric propulsion.
In 1906 he built a house near Pitlochry, the upper storey of which housed an observatory and he returned to a previous interest and gave lectures on Astronomy at the Royal Technical College in Glasgow. He bacame lead astronpmer at Hawaiʻi for the 1874 Transit of Venus, Forbes was lead astronomer at the Hawaiʻi sub-station.He wrote and lectured widely about astronomy and predicted the existence of a trans-Neptunian planet fifty years before the discovery of Pluto.
Forbes wwas also an inventor, and some of his ork is still in use, such as using carbon for the brushes in electric motors. In the early 1900's he began studying techniques of gunnery and worked with the Admiralty to develop a rangefinder that was still in use by the Navy at the outset of the Second World War..
He a Fellow of the Royal Society, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, MInstCE and Member of the Vienna Astronomiches Verein. Also a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the American Philosophical Society, and received an honorary LLD from St Andrews.The University of Strathclyde honoured his memory in 1987 by naming a new student hall of residence after him. In 2021 he was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame.