Carruthers Beattie  Sir John Carruthers Beattie (21 November 1866 – 10 June 1946) was the first principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town (1918–1937). Beattie was born in Waterbeck, Scotland. He graduated from Edinburgh University having studied at Munich, Vienna, Berlin and Glasgow. Soon afterwards he was appointed Professor of Applied Mathematics and Experimental Physics at South African College in Cape Town. He married Elizabeth Paton in 1898. They had two daughters and a son. Their son was killed while serving with the Royal Air Force in 1942. For his contributions to education in South Africa, he was knighted in 1920. He died in Cape Town. John Carruthers Beattie was born on 21 November 1866, in Dumfriesshire. He attended St John's Boarding School in Workington and Moray House in Edinburgh. He entered the University of Edinburgh and obtained a degree in Chemistry, Botany and Mathematics before furthered his studies in Physics at Munich, Vienna, Berlin and Glasgow (under Lord Kelvin). In 1896 he was awarded a Doctorate of Science from the University of Edinburgh for his thesis entitled "The Behaviour of Bismuth Plates in a Steady Magnetic Field". He married Elizabeth Paton in 1898. He died in Cape Town in South Africa. In 1897 Beattie was appointed as Professor of Applied Mathematics and Experimental Physics at the South African College in Cape Town. Beattie’s research included the influence of X-rays, ultra-violet light, and the rays from uranium on the electrical conductivity of gases, and the leakage of electricity from charged bodies at moderate temperatures. During the Anglo-Boer War in February 1899, he and others demonstrated the application of wireless telegraphy by transmitting signals over a distance of 120 metres on Cape Town's Grand Parade using equipment imported from Britain. In 1901 he began a magnetic survey of South Africa with Prof John Todd Morrison. Starting in 1908 he extended the survey through central Africa to Egypt, arriving in Cairo in December 1909. Beginning in 1904 there was a movement to obtain a charter for both the University of Cape Town and the University of Stellenbosch. Alfred Beit, a mining magnate and one of Cecil John Rhodes' collaborators, died in 1906 leaving a bequest of £200 000 for the creation of a university in Johannesburg. The then government though had a preference for Rhodes's idea of establishing a university in Cape Town on his former estate.