ABSTRACT
Schusterwas19yearsoldwhenhearrivedinManchester,oldenough tobeapprenticedtothefirmofSchusterBrothers.Hisparents,especially hissympatheticmotherwhowasblindfromGraves'disease,soonsensed hisdiscontentinthebusinessmilieu.TheyconsultedwithHenryRoscoe, thenprofessorofchemistryatManchester'sOwensCollege,whose eveningclassesSchusterwasattending.Roscoe,whowastirelessinhis efforttospreadtheimportanceofscienceit1publicschools,academia, industry,andgovernmentalike,wasamainstayinbuildingOwensfrom awretchedschoolofminimalresourcestoacollegeasgoodasany outsideLondon.HearrangedforSchustertoenrollasadaystudent atthecollegeinOctober1871.WithSchuster'sgroundinginscience atGeneva,andfurtherinspiredtogointophysicsbyRoscoe'shighly popularandelementarytextbookonspectrumanalysis,hestudied physicsunderBalfourStewartandpureandmathematicsunder ThomasBarker--excellentteacherswholefttheirmarkontheslightly youngerJJThomsonataboutthesametime.Anastyrailroadaccident
had nearly cost Stewart his life soon after his at Owens in 1870, but in the fall of 1871 he was able to resume his teaching load. Though he was a teacher second to none, instruction at Owens nevertheless left something to be desired, predating by a century today' s all-too-common complaint among university undergraduate students.
