Editing Alexander Thom

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[[File:LongMegAndHerDaughters(SimonLedingham)May2005.jpg|thumb|right|[[Long Meg and Her Daughters]], the largest example of Alexander Thom's Type B Flattened Circle]]
'''Alexander Thom''' (26 March 1894 – 7 November 1985) was a Scottish engineer most famous for his theory of the [[Megalithic yard]], categorisation of [[stone circle]]s and his studies of [[Stonehenge]] and other archaeological sites.<ref name="Heath2003">{{cite book|author=Robin Heath|title=Alexander Thom: Cracking the Stone Age Code|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DmnHGAAACAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Bluestone Press|isbn=978-0-9526151-4-9}}</ref>

== Life and work ==
===Early life and education===
Thom was born in [[Carradale]] in 1894 to Archibald Thom,<ref>{{cite ODNB |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-38056 |title=Thom, Alexander (1894–1985), aerodynamicist and archaeologist |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/38056}}</ref> a [[tenant farmer]] at ''Mains farm'' for Carradale House, and his wife Lily Stevenson Strang from the family of [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]. Her mother (Thom's grandmother) belonged to a large family from [[Symington, South Ayrshire|Symington]], upon whom had been bestowed the land by [[Robert the Bruce]].{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} His father trained the Church [[choir]] while his mother was pianist.

Thom spent his early years at Mains farm until moving to ''The Hill'' farm at [[Dunlop, East Ayrshire|Dunlop]], Ayrshire. Instilled with a good [[work ethic]] by his father, Thom taught himself [[industrial engineering]] and entered college in [[Glasgow]] in 1911 where he studied alongside [[John Logie Baird]]. In 1912 he attended summer school at [[Loch Eck]] where he was trained in surveying and field [[astronomy]] by Dr David Clark and Professor Moncur. In 1913, aged just 19, he assisted in surveying the Canadian Pacific Rail Network.

Thom graduated from the [[Royal College of Science and Technology]] and the [[University of Glasgow]] in 1914, earning a BSc with special distinction in Engineering.

===Early academic career===
He suffered from a [[heart murmur]] and was not [[Conscription|drafted]] during the [[First World War]]. Instead he went to work in civil engineering of the [[Forth Bridge]] and later designed [[flying boats]] for the Gosport Aircraft Company. In 1917 he married Jeanie Kirkwood with whom he shared a long and lively marriage.

He returned to the University of Glasgow and worked as a lecturer from 1922 to 1939, quickly earning his PhD and [[DSc]] degrees. He built his own home called ''Thalassa'' in 1922, along with a [[windmill]] to power it with electricity. His father died in 1924 and he took over running the farm where he fathered three children, Archibald, Beryl and Alan. Thom helped to develop the Department of [[Aeronautics]] at the University of Glasgow and lectured on statistics, practical field surveying, [[theodolite]] design and [[astronomy]]. From 1930 to 1935 he was a [[Carnegie Corporation of New York|Carnegie Teaching Fellow]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Ruggles |first=Clive |title=Records in Stone: Papers in memory of Alexander Thom |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-53130-6}}</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], Thom moved to [[Fleet, Hampshire|Fleet]] in Hampshire where he was appointed Principal Scientific Officer heading the [[Royal Aircraft Establishment]] team that developed the first high speed [[wind tunnel]].

===Ancient engineering and the Megalithic yard===
Later, he was professor and chair of engineering science at [[Brasenose College]], [[University of Oxford]] where he became interested in the methods that [[prehistoric]] peoples used to build [[megalithic monument]]s. Thom became especially interested in the [[stone circle]]s of the [[British Isles]] and France and their astronomical associations.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hutton |first=Ronald |title=The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=1993 |page=111 |isbn=978-0-631-18946-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ifjw5Ce_NgEC&q=Thom+stone+circles+british+isles&pg=RA1-PA1 |via=Google Books }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Thom (1955)<ref>{{cite journal |first=Alexander |last=Thom |year=1955 |title=A statistical examination of megalithic sites in Britain |journal=Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A |volume=118 |issue=3 |pages=275–295 |doi=10.2307/2342494 |jstor=2342494 |url=https://www.jstor.org/pss/2342494|url-access=subscription }}</ref> in which he first suggested the [[megalithic yard]] as a standardised prehistoric measurement. He retired from academia in 1961 to spend the rest of his life devoted to this area of research. The [[Thom Building]], housing the [[Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford|Department of Engineering Science]] at Oxford, built in the 1960s, is named after Alexander Thom.

From around 1933 to 1977 Thom spent most of his weekends and holiday periods hefting theodolites and survey equipment around the countryside with his family member or friends, most notably with his son Archie. From studies measuring and analysing the data created at over five hundred [[megalithic]] sites, he attempted to classify stone circles into different [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] types, Type&nbsp;A, Type&nbsp;B, Type&nbsp;B modified, and Type&nbsp;D flattened circles, Type&nbsp;1 and Type&nbsp;2 [[oval|egg]]s, [[oval]]s and true [[circles]].

His son Alan died in a [[plane crash]] in 1945.

===Archaeoastronomical speculations===
He suggested several were built as [[astronomical complex]]es to predict [[eclipse]]s via nineteen-year cycles. Thom went on to identify numerous solar and stellar alignments at stone circles, providing the foundations for the scientific discipline of [[archaeoastronomy]].

He further suggested the prehistoric peoples of Britain must have used a solar method of keeping calendar. Based on statistical [[histogram]]s of observed [[declination]]s at horizon marks with no convenient star at −22°, +8°, +9° and +22° (except possibly [[Spica]] at +9°) between 2100 and 1600&nbsp;BCE, he suggested a year based on sixteen months; four with twenty two days, eleven with twenty three days, and one with twenty four.

Thom's suggested megalithic solar year was divided by [[midsummer]], [[Winter solstice|midwinter]], and the two [[equinox]]es into four and then subdivided into eight by early versions of the modern Christian festivals of [[Whitsun]], [[Lammas]], [[Martinmas]], and [[Candlemas]] (see [[Scottish Quarter Days]]). He found little evidence for further subdivision into thirty two, but noted "We do not know how sophisticated prehistoric man's calendar was, but the interesting thing is that he obtained declinations very close to those we have obtained as ideal".

Thom explored these topics further in his later books
* ''Megalithic Sites in Britain'' ([[Oxford University Press|Oxford]], 1967)
* ''Megalithic Lunar Observatories'' ([[Oxford University Press|Oxford]], 1971)
* ''Megalithic Remains in Britain and Brittany'' ([[Oxford University Press|Oxford]], 1978)
The last was written with his son Archie, after they carried out a detailed survey of the [[Carnac stones]] from 1970 to 1974.<ref name="Thom1967">{{cite book |first=Alexander |last=Thom |year=1967 |title=Megalithic Sites in Britain |page=107 |publisher=Oxford University Press, print on demand |isbn=978-0-19-813148-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UviAAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Thom's ideas met with resistance from the [[archaeological]] community but were welcomed amongst elements of 1960s [[counter-culture]]. Along with [[Gerald Hawkins]]' new interpretation of [[Stonehenge]] as an [[astronomical]] 'computer' (see [[Archaeoastronomy and Stonehenge]]), Thom's theories were adopted by numerous enthusiasts for 'the lost wisdom of the ancients' and became commonly associated with [[pseudoscience]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}

===Later life===
In 1975, his wife, Jeanie died. In 1981 he underwent an eye operation and in 1982 he broke a [[femur]] falling on [[ice]]. He continued to write papers and undertook interviews and correspondence using a dictaphone with the assistance of audio typist, Hilda Gustin. He moved in with his daughter Beryl in 1983 in [[Banavie]]. Registered as [[Blindness|blind]], he concluded a final book ''Stone Rows and Standing Stones'', a 557&nbsp;page tome published posthumously with the assistance of [[Aubrey Burl]] in 1990. Thom died on 7&nbsp;November 1985 at [[Fort William, Scotland|Fort William]] hospital, aged&nbsp;91. His body was buried near [[Ayr]].

Alexander Thom is survived by his daughter Beryl Austin, and his grandchildren. 
His son Archie survived him, but died ten years later, in 1995, from a brain tumour.

==BBC Chronicle – Cracking the Stone Age code==
[[File:Broken menhir edit.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|right|The [[Locmariaquer megaliths]] in [[Brittany]] in France, suggested by Thom to have been once used for major lunar alignments in the BBC's  ''[[Chronicle (UK TV series)|Chronicle]] – Cracking the Stone Age code'']]
In 1970, Thom appeared on a television documentary produced by the BBC ''[[Chronicle (UK TV series)|Chronicle]]'' series, presented by [[Magnus Magnusson]] and featuring well-known archaeologists Dr [[Euan Mackie]], Professor [[Richard J. C. Atkinson]], Dr [[A. H. A. Hogg]], Professor [[Stuart Piggott]], Dr [[Jacquetta Hawkes]], Dr Humphrey Case and Dr [[Glyn Daniel]]. The programme discussed the difference between [[Orthodoxy|orthodox]] archaeology and the radical ideas of Thom. A pinnacle of his career, Thom finally got to publicly deliver his message on national television.<ref name="The Spectator">{{cite book|title=The Spectator|page=608|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oBw-AQAAIAAJ|year=1970}}</ref> Despite the heavy criticism, he never vented his frustration on the archaeological profession; as he said in the ''Chronicle'' programme, "I just keep reporting what I find."

== Later use of his work ==
Thom's proposed length for the [[Megalithic yard]] has been reused as such in several controversial books that claim this unit of measurement is a subdivision of the Earth's [[circumference]] in an alleged [[366 geometry|366-degree geometry]]. One such book is 'Civilization One: The World is Not as You Thought It Was', by [[Christopher Knight (author)|Christopher Knight]] and Alan Butler who propose the [[366 geometry]] theory.

Clive Ruggles has said that both classical and Bayesian statistical reassessments of Thom's data "reached the conclusion that the evidence in favour of the MY was at best marginal, and that even if it does exist the uncertainty in our knowledge of its value is of the order of centimetres, far greater than the 1mm precision claimed by Thom. In other words, the evidence presented by Thom could be
adequately explained by, say, monuments being set out by pacing, with the 'unit' reflecting an average length of pace."<ref>{{cite book|last=Ruggles|first=Clive|title=Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland|date=1999|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-07814-5|page=83}}</ref> [[David George Kendall]] had previously argued that pacing would have created a greater difference in measurements between sites, he concluded after investigation for the [[Royal Academy]], that ''"The hypothesis of a smooth, non-quantal distribution of circle diameters'' (for Scottish, English and Welsh true circles) ''is thus rejected at the 1% level."''<ref name="KelleyMilone2011">{{cite book|author1=David H. Kelley|author2=Eugene F. Milone|author3=Anthony F. (FRW) Aveni|title=Exploring Ancient Skies: A Survey of Ancient and Cultural Astronomy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ILBuYcGASxcC&pg=PA163|year=2011|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-4419-7623-9|page=163}}</ref><ref name="KendallHodson1974">{{cite book|author1=David George Kendall|author2=F. R. Hodson|author3=Royal Society (Great Britain)|others=British Academy|title=The Place of astronomy in the ancient world: a joint symposium of the Royal Society and the British Academy, Hunting Quanta |pages=249, 258|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FHLvAAAAMAAJ|year=1974|publisher=Oxford University Press for the British Academy|isbn=9780197259443}}</ref>

Douglas Heggie casts doubt on Thom's suggestion as well, stating that his careful analysis uncovered "little evidence for a highly accurate unit" and "little justification for the claim that a highly accurate unit was in use".<ref>{{cite book|last=Heggie|first=Douglas C.|title=Megalithic Science: Ancient Mathematics and Astronomy in North-west Europe|date=1981|publisher=Thames and Hudson|isbn=0-500-05036-8|page=58}}</ref>

Euan MacKie, recognising that Thom's theories needed to be tested, excavated at the Kintraw standing stone site in Argyllshire in 1970 and 1971 to check whether the latter's prediction of an observation platform on the hill slope above the stone was correct. There was an artificial platform there and this apparent verification of Thom's long alignment hypothesis (Kintraw was diagnosed as an accurate winter solstice site) led him to check Thom's geometrical theories at the Cultoon stone circle in Islay, also with a positive result. MacKie therefore broadly accepted Thom's conclusions and published new prehistories of Britain.[22] In contrast a re-evaluation of Thom's fieldwork by Clive Ruggles argued that Thom's claims of high accuracy astronomy were not fully supported by the evidence.[23] Nevertheless, Thom's legacy remains strong, Krupp wrote in 1979, "Almost singlehandedly he has established the standards for archaeoastronomical fieldwork and interpretation, and his amazing results have stirred controversy during the last three decades." His influence endures and practice of statistical testing of data remains one of the methods of archaeoastronomy.<ref>MacKie 1977, Gingerich 2000, Krupp 1979:18, Hicks 1993</ref>

In his book ''Genes, Giants, Monsters and Men,'' [[:fr:Joseph P. Farrell|Joseph P. Farrell]] states, "If Thom was right, the development of human civilization may have to be rewritten!" This Farrell surmises is why Thom encounters such opposition from certain groups.<ref>{{cite book|last=Farrell|first= Joseph|title=Genes, Giants, Monsters and Men|date=2011|page=35|publisher=Feral House}}</ref>{{unreliable source|date=November 2021}}

In his book ''Rings of Stone: The Prehistoric Stone Circles of Britain and Ireland.'' [[Aubrey Burl]] calls the megalithic yard "a chimera, a grotesque statistical misconception."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Balfour|first=M|author2=O Gingerich|title=Book-Review – Stonehenge and its Mysteries|journal=Journal of Historical Astronomy|date=1980|volume=SUPP. VOL.11, P.S104|url=http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/JHAS./0011//0000104.000.html|access-date=3 May 2011}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Archeoastronomy]]
* [[Euan MacKie]]
* [[Anne Macaulay]]

== Publications ==
Archaeoastronomical publications.
* {{cite journal | author = Thom, Alexander | title = A Statistical Examination of the Megalithic Sites in Britain | journal = Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A | date = 1955 | volume = 118 | pages = 275–295| doi = 10.2307/2342494 | issue = 3 | jstor = 2342494}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1961 | title = The egg-shaped standing stone rings of Britain | journal = Archivs Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences | volume = 14 | pages = 291–303 }}
* {{cite journal | author = Thom, Alexander | title = The Geometry of Megalithic Man | journal = The Mathematical Gazette | date = 1961 | volume = 45 | pages = 83–93| doi = 10.2307/3614618 | issue = 352| jstor = 3614618 | s2cid = 135198241 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1962 | title = The megalithic unit of length | journal = Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A | volume = 125 | issue = 2 | pages = 243–251 | doi=10.2307/2982328| jstor = 2982328 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1964 | title = The larger unit of megalithic man | journal = Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A | volume = 127 | pages = 527–533 | doi=10.2307/2343934| jstor = 2343934 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1966 | title = Megaliths and mathermatics | journal = Antiquity | volume = 40 | issue = 158 | pages = 121–128 | doi=10.1017/s0003598x00032294| s2cid = 164204903 }}
* Thom, Alexander., Megalithic sites in Britain, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1967 {{ISBN|978-0198131489}}.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1968 | title = The metrology of cup and ring marks | journal = Systematics | volume = 6 | pages = 173–189 }}
* Thom, Alexander., Megalithic Lunar Observatories, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1970.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | last2 = Thom | first2 = Archibald | date = 1971 | title = The astronomical significance of the large Carnac menhirs | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 2 | issue = 3 | pages = 147–160 | doi=10.1177/002182867100200301| bibcode = 1971JHA.....2..147T | s2cid = 126142197 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1972 | title = The Carnac alignments | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 3 | pages = 11–26 | doi=10.1177/002182867200300103| bibcode = 1972JHA.....3...11T | s2cid = 126201139 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1972 | title = The uses and alignments at Le Menec, Carnac | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 3 | pages = 151–164 | doi=10.1177/002182867200300301| bibcode = 1972JHA.....3..151T | s2cid = 126329436 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1973 | title = The Kerlescan cromlechs | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 4 | issue = 3 | pages = 169–173 | doi=10.1177/002182867300400303| bibcode = 1973JHA.....4..168T | s2cid = 125905110 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1973 | title = A megalithic lunar observatory in Orkney | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 4 | pages = 169–173 | doi = 10.1177/002182867300400203 | s2cid = 125682973 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1973 | title = The Astronomical Significance of the Crucuno Stone Rectangle | journal = Current Anthropology | volume = 14 | issue = 4 | pages = 450–454 | doi=10.1086/201352| s2cid = 161168263 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1974 | title = The Kermario alignments | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 5 | pages = 30–47 | doi=10.1177/002182867400500104| bibcode = 1974JHA.....5...30T | s2cid = 126002751 }}
* {{cite journal | author1 = Thom, Alexander |author2= Stevenson Thom, Archibald|author3= Strang Thom, Alexander | title = Stonehenge | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | date = 1974 | volume = 5 |issue= 2| pages = 71–90 | bibcode = 1974JHA.....5...71T | doi=10.1177/002182867400500201|s2cid= 220911401}}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1975 | title = Further work on Brogar Lunar Observatory | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 6 | issue = 2 | pages = 100–114 | doi=10.1177/002182867500600203| bibcode = 1975JHA.....6..100T | s2cid = 125612631 }}
* {{cite journal | author1 = Thom, Alexander |author2= Stevenson Thom, Archibald |author3= Strang Thom, Alexander | title = Stonehenge as a Possible Lunar Observatory | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | date = 1975 | volume = 6 | pages = 19–30 | bibcode = 1975JHA.....6...19T | doi=10.1177/002182867500600103|s2cid= 125474896 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1976 | title = Avebury volume 1: A new assessment of the geometry and metrology of the ring | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 7 | pages = 183–192 | doi=10.1177/002182867600700303| bibcode = 1976JHA.....7..183T | s2cid = 118646238 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | last2 = Thom | first2 = Archibald | last3 = Foord | first3 = T.R. | date = 1976 | title = Avebury volume 2: the West Kennet Avenue | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 7 | pages = 193–197 | doi=10.1177/002182867600700304| bibcode = 1976JHA.....7..193T | s2cid = 125596392 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | last2 = Thom | first2 = Archibald | last3 = Gorrie | first3 = J.M. | date = 1976 | title = The two megalithic lunar observatories at Carnac | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 7 | pages = 11–26 | doi=10.1177/002182867600700102| bibcode = 1976JHA.....7...11T | s2cid = 118773549 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1977 | title = Megalithic Astronomy | journal = Journal of Navigation | volume = 30 | pages = 1–14 | doi=10.1017/s0373463300043575| s2cid = 262843483 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1977 | title = A Forth Lunar Foresight for the Brogar Ring | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 8 | pages = 54–55 | doi=10.1177/002182867700800107| bibcode = 1977JHA.....8...54T | s2cid = 125482958 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1978 | title = A reconsideration of the Lunar Sites in Britain | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 9 | issue = 3 | pages = 170–179 | doi=10.1177/002182867800900302| bibcode = 1978JHA.....9..170T | s2cid = 126106001 }}
* Thom, Alexander., Megalithic remains in Britain and Brittany, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1978.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1979 | title = The standing stones in Argyllshire | journal = Glasgow Archaeological Journal | volume = vi | issue = 6 | pages = 5–10 | doi=10.3366/gas.1979.6.6.5| doi-access =  }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1980 | title = A new study of all lunar lines | journal = Archaeoastronomy: Supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 2 | pages = 78–94 | bibcode = 1980JHAS...11...78T }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1980 | title = Astronomical foresights used by Megalithic man | journal = Archaeoastronomy: Supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 2 | pages = 78–94 | bibcode = 1980JHAS...11...78T }}
* Thom, Alexander, Thom Archibald Stevenson, Burl, Aubrey., ''Megalithic rings: plans and data for 229 monuments in Britain'', British Archaeological Reports, 1980, {{ISBN|978-0-86054-094-6}}
* Thom, Alexander, Statistical and philosophical arguments for the astronomical significance of standing stones, in D.C. Heggie, Archaeoastronomy in the Old World, Cambridge University Press, 53–82, 1982.
* Thom, Alexander, Statistical and philosophical arguments for the astronomical significance of standing stones with a section on the solar calendar, in D.C. Heggie, Archaeoastronomy in the Old World, Cambridge University Press, 53–82, 1982.
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1983 | title = Observations of the moon in megalithic times | journal = Archaeoastronomy: Supplement to the Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 5 | pages = 57–66 }}
* {{cite journal | last1 = Thom | first1 = Alexander | date = 1984 | title = The two major Megalithic observatories in Scotland | journal = Journal for the History of Astronomy | volume = 15 | issue = 7 | pages = 129–148 | bibcode = 1984JHAS...15..129T | doi = 10.1177/002182868401500706 | s2cid = 126232582 }}
* 1990. Thom, Alexander and Burl, Aubrey ''Stone Rows and Standing Stones: Britain, Ireland and Brittany'' B.A.R. 1990, {{ISBN|978-0-86054-708-2}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-abs_connect?db_key=AST&db_key=PRE&qform=AST&arxiv_sel=astro-ph&arxiv_sel=cond-mat&arxiv_sel=cs&arxiv_sel=gr-qc&arxiv_sel=hep-ex&arxiv_sel=hep-lat&arxiv_sel=hep-ph&arxiv_sel=hep-th&arxiv_sel=math&arxiv_sel=math-ph&arxiv_sel=nlin&arxiv_sel=nucl-ex&arxiv_sel=nucl-th&arxiv_sel=physics&arxiv_sel=quant-ph&arxiv_sel=q-bio&sim_query=YES&ned_query=YES&aut_logic=OR&obj_logic=OR&author=thom%0D%0A&object=&start_mon=&start_year=1900&end_mon=&end_year=1985&ttl_logic=OR&title=&txt_logic=OR&text=&nr_to_return=200&start_nr=1&jou_pick=ALL&ref_stems=&data_and=ALL&group_and=ALL&start_entry_day=&start_entry_mon=&start_entry_year=&end_entry_day=&end_entry_mon=&end_entry_year=&min_score=&sort=SCORE&data_type=SHORT&aut_syn=YES&ttl_syn=YES&txt_syn=YES&aut_wt=1.0&obj_wt=1.0&ttl_wt=0.3&txt_wt=3.0&aut_wgt=YES&obj_wgt=YES&ttl_wgt=YES&txt_wgt=YES&ttl_sco=YES&txt_sco=YES&version=1 Thom's publications] at the [[Astrophysics Data System]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080324101903/http://www.britannia.com/wonder/thom.html Biography]
* [http://assets.cambridge.org/052157/2916/sample/0521572916web.pdf "Astronomy before History"], by [[Clive Ruggles]] and Michael Hoskins, a chapter from the ''Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy'', Michael Hoskin ed., 1999
* [http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/QJRAS/0028//0000178.000.html Alexander Thom, obituary] by D. C. Heggie, ''[[Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]'', Vol 28, No 2, p 178-182
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/chronicle/8604.shtml BBC Archive – Chronicle | Cracking the Stone Age Code]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-Thyum811M Video footage of his home at Dunlop in Ayrshire]
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thom, Alexander}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:Scottish archaeologists]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish engineers]]
[[Category:Scottish scholars and academics]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Glasgow]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Oxford]]
[[Category:Engineering academics]]
[[Category:Archaeoastronomers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Strathclyde]]
[[Category:People from Dunlop, East Ayrshire]]
[[Category:People from Kintyre]]