William Sutherland began his primary schooling in Sydney, and continued his education in Melbourne when the family moved there in 1870. He attended high school at Wesley College. In 1876 he started his B.A. (arts/engineering) at the University of Melbourne, graduating, with first class honours, in 1879. After being awarded the Gilchrist Scholarship, he left Australia in July 1879 to study at the University College London, returning in February 1882 with a B.Sc. first in his class, with first-class honours in experimental physics, and the Clothworkers Scholarship.While in London he wrote articles for the Madras Times where his uncle was editor. He also wrote comedies and melodramas and an unpublished novel which he called 'An Atheist's Wife' - rejected because of the title and its challenge to established beliefs.
When he returned to Australia, he began work on his M.A. (awarded in 1883), and in the meantime earned some income from tutoring and serving as an examiner for the university, and later lectured in physics. He began writing articles on machinery for the Argus in 1889, demonstrating his clarity and ability to write for the public. These, along with other recommendations, led to his being offered the chance to write for the Age in 1901. Once again, he wrote on technical topics, but it was his leaders in the Saturday issues that attracted attention. A passionate Australian, writing of the country and his countrymen, he was wide ranging in his subjects, covering Australian art, the landscape (he was a keen bushwalker), equal opportunity for women, university and education reform, and even the environment with his drive to beautify Melbourne, making it smoke and dust free.
When he died, Sutherland had published more than 70 scientific papers in leading journals such as the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London and the Philosophical Magazine. His study on the viscosity of gas is known today as the 'Sutherland Constant', his work on the gravity of atoms referred to as the 'Sutherland Model', where the force is expressed as the 'Sutherland Potential', and he even beat Einstein to the press by publishing his equation relating to fluid diffusion in early 1905.
William Sutherland was the younger brother to authors Alexander and George (qq.v), and his sister Jane who was in the group of plein air artists which included Tom Roberts and Frederick McCubbin.
See also the full Australian Dictionary of Biography Online entry for William Sutherland.
