In this position he researched flames, explosions and metallurgy and became a pioneer designer of the internal combustion engine.

[1] Following the death of his father, brother and two of his sisters in a mountaineering accident in 1898, Hopkinson switched to a career in engineering instead.

In 1915, Hopkinson discovered a similarity relation between the masses of explosive charges and their effects at a given distance.

[4] Having become an aviator after joining the army, Hopkinson died on 26 August 1918 when his Bristol Fighter crashed en route from Martlesham Heath to London.

He is buried in the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge, with his wife Mariana, née Siemens; they had seven daughters.