He attended Royal School Dungannon and went on to Trinity College, Dublin in 1884, where he studied engineering and physical science.

While still an undergraduate student, Trouton observed a relationship between boiling points and energies of vaporisations, which he presented in two short papers.

Trouton graduated Master of Arts and Doctor of Science in 1884, and was immediately appointed assistant to the professor of experimental physics, George Francis FitzGerald.

[1][5] His application citation read: "Discovered the law connecting the latent heat of vaporisation and molecular weights of bodies known as "Trouton's law" and experimentally determined the directions of vibration of electric and inaquatic force in plane polarised light.

He has made other important observations on the phase of secondary waves and on the influence of the size of the reflector in Hertz's equipment.