Sturgeon joined the army in 1802 and taught himself
mathematics and
physics. In 1824 he became lecturer in Science and Philosophy at the
East India Company's
Military Seminary at Addiscombe, Surrey, and in the following year he exhibited his first electromagnet. He displayed its power by lifting nine pounds with a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wire through which a current from a single battery was sent. In 1832 he was appointed to the lecturing staff of the Adelaide Gallery of Practical Science in
London, where he first demonstrated the
DC electric motor incorporating a commutator. In 1836 he established the journal
Annals of Electricity, Magnetism and Chemistry, and in the same year he invented a
galvanometer. In 1840 he became superintendent of the
Royal Victoria Gallery of Practical Science in
Manchester. He formed a close social circle with
John Davies, one of the Gallery's promoters, and Davies's student
James Prescott Joule, a circle that eventually extended to include
Edward William Binney and the surgeon
John Leigh. The Gallery closed in 1842, and he earned a living by lecturing and demonstrating. In 1843 he started the monthly journal,
The Annals of Philosophical Discovery and Monthly Reporter of the Progress of Practical Science; issue 1 of volume 1 is dated July 1843. Each month's issue contains a mixture of original "long" papers (over 5 pages long), republished papers from foreign journals (translated where necessary) and shorter articles. However, the journal did not prove successful, and ceased publication at the end of volume 1, in December 1843. This single volume is archived at Internet.org. ==Death and burial==