Hopkinson, John (1849-1898), a British electrical engineer, improved the design of electric generators. He devised a method of distributing electric power using three wires to supply a double two-wire circuit. His method was more efficient and used less wire than other methods of the time. Hopkinson also devised the Hopkinson test, a method of testing electric motors and generators by connecting two similar machines back-to-back so that one drives the other.
Hopkinson was born on July 27, 1849, in Manchester, England. He died in a mountain-climbing accident in the Swiss Alps on Aug. 27, 1898.
