Alexander Muirhead, FRS, (1848-1920) born in East Saltoun, East Lothian, Scotland was an electrical engineer specialising in wireless telegraphy.

He studied for his Bachelor of Science at University College London and then DSc (in electricity) at St Bartholomew's Hospital 1869-1872 where he is credited with recording the first human electrocardiogram.

He was scientific adviser to his father's company, Latimer Clark, Muirhead & Co., designing precision instruments, and with H A Taylor patented a method of duplexing wireless signals for use in submarine cables.

He later worked with Sir Oliver Lodge on the development of wireless telegraphy, selling their patents to Marconi in 1904.

He became a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1877, and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1904

He died at Shortlands, Kent, on 13 December 1920 and is buried at West Norwood Cemetery

External links

• Ronald Birse, rev. Patricia Knowlden Alexander Muirhead Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Subscription required)