Richard Threlfall (1861–1932) was a British physicist and a professor at the University of Sydney, whose research centered on electrolysis and radioactivity. He had solid practical experience in experimental physics, and this hands-on orientation is reflected in the one work of his held in our collection. That book, On Laboratory Arts, judging from its title and the author's background, is a practical guide to laboratory work, concerned with experimental techniques and working methods rather than theoretical exposition or popular science. Publicly available information on the details of his life and academic circle is limited, so little more can be said. On the whole, his writing is pragmatic and concrete, serving the actual needs of the laboratory, and it offers some reference value for understanding the craft traditions of experimental physics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
