Edward Thomas Hall CBE

CBE

CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...

, Hon. FBA, FSA

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

, D.Phil (also known as Teddy Hall; 10 May 1924 - 11 August 2001) was a British scientist.

Life

Born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Hall was also a hot-air-balloon pilot and owner of Cameron

Cameron Balloons

Cameron Balloons is a company established in 1971 in Bristol, England by Don Cameron to manufacture hot air balloons. Cameron had previously, with others, constructed ten hot air balloons under the name Omega. Production was in the basement of his house, moving in 1972 to an old church in the city...

 O-84 Flaming Pearl G-AYAJ 1970-1990.. He was a member of the Air Squadron.

The son of Walter D'Arcy Hall

Walter D'Arcy Hall

Lieutenant-Colonel Walter D'Arcy Hall, MC & Bar was a soldier, Unionist Member of Parliament and hunter of game .-Biography:...

, he was educated at Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and New College, Oxford

New College, Oxford

New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.- Overview :The College's official name, College of St Mary, is the same as that of the older Oriel College; hence, it has been referred to as the "New College of St Mary", and is now almost always...

, where he received his DPhil in 1953. In 1943, he joined the RNVR as an ordinary seaman, serving in landing craft transporting commandos to France.

He married South African model Jennifer De La Harpe and had two sons Bill and Martin.

At various times in his life he was a trustee of the National Gallery

National Gallery, London

The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...

, the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

 and Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths Company

Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths

The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Company, which has origins in the twelfth century, received a Royal Charter in 1327. It ranks fifth in the order of precedence of Livery Companies. Its motto is Justitia Virtutum Regina, Latin for Justice...

.

Achievements

• Exposed the Piltdown Man
  Piltdown Man
  The Piltdown Man was a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England...
  
   fraud.
• Founder of Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art
  Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art
  The Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art is a laboratory at the University of Oxford, England which develops and applies scientific methods to the study of the past. It was established in 1955 and its first director was Teddy Hall...
  
  , Oxford University.
• Founder of Littlemore Scientific Engineering Company (ELSEC), Oxford
  Oxford
  The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
  
  .
• Helped to date
  Radiocarbon 14 dating of the Shroud of Turin
  The Shroud of Turin, a linen cloth commonly associated with the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ, has undergone numerous scientific tests, the most notable of which is radiocarbon dating, in an attempt to determine the relic's authenticity...
  
   the Turin Shroud as a medieval fake. However, the dating done by Hall and his team is now disputed due to tested samples being cut from a patched corner of the shroud—see the article on the shroud.
• Built the Littlemore Clock, possibly the most accurate pendulum clock
  Pendulum clock
  A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is a resonant device; it swings back and forth in a precise time interval dependent on its length, and resists swinging at other rates...
  
   ever.

Hall was an Ad hominem Professor at Worcester College, Oxford.

Obituaries

• Guardian obituary 20 August 2001.Professor ET 'Teddy' Hall:Scientist who exposed the Piltdown Man fraud and dated the Turin Shroud as a medieval fake
• Telegraph Obituary
• New York Times obituary