William McLellan

Colonel William McLellan CBE (1874–1934) was a Scottish electrical engineer. Born in Palnackie, McLellan joined Charles Merz in 1902 to form the Merz & McLellan consulting partnership. In the 1920s, then Colonel McLellan, he designed the Galloway Hydros hydroelectric power scheme.

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William Mclellan

Sir William McLellan, created 1st Lord Kirkcudbright, was the son of Sir Patrick Maclellan of Bombie, and is best remembered for an undertaking inspired by a proclamation of King James II of Scotland that promised the barony of Kirkcudbright to whoever should disperse a troublesome thief known as Black Morrow 'dead or alive'.

This act was duly accomplished in some style by the young McLellan, who presented himself before the king with the head Black Morrow on the point of his sword.

The king, surprised that the robber had been ousted, commended McLellan on his service to the Crown but mentioned nothing of the Barony. Apparently, the enraged McLellan threw his gauntlet at the king having it land at his feet and shaking his fist beseeched the king to "Think on!" (or remember what was promised), whereupon King James relented and awarded McLellan the Barony and Castle.

The crest which the new Lord Kirkcudbright adopted was 'an erect right arm grasping a dagger, on the point of which was Black Morrow's head (later representations show a blackamoor's head) 'couped proper', tag on the bottom with the family motto "think on". The Coat of arms on the crest is flanked on either side by McLellan on the right holding the Barony in his bare right hand and McLellan's horse in full armourment.

William McLellan (nanotechnology)

William Howard McLellan (December 1, 1924 – September 30, 2011) was an American electrical engineer.

In December 1959, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman offered two challenges relating to nanotechnology at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society, held that year at Caltech, offering a $1000 prize to the first person to solve each of them. The first one required someone to build a working electric motor that would fit inside a cube ¹/₆₄ inches on each side. McLellan, at that time living nearby, achieved this feat by November 1960 and won the prize; his 250-microgram 2000-rpm motor consisted of 13 separate parts.

The prize for the second challenge was claimed only much later, by Tom Newman in 1985.

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