Sir William Robert Grove (1811-1896), Welsh physicist. Grove was born in Swansea and was educated privately before attending Oxford University. He trained in Law, but was forced to abandon this career due to ill health. Instead he chose to study physics and became an expert in electrochemistry. He invented the Grove Cell, an improved type of voltaic cell, and described the first fuel cell. In 1840 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and in 1841 he was appointed Professor of Physics at the London Institution. From 1864, he was healthy enough to return to the Law, taking the silk as a judge in 1871 and raised to the bench of the High Court in 1875..