Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Linda Hall Library Collection Table of Contents
AGRICOLA, GEORGIUS, also known as Georg
Bauer b. Glauchau, Germany, 24 March 1494; d.
Chemnitz, Germany [now Karl-Marx-Stadt, German
Democratic Republic], 21 November 1555), mining,
metallurgy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BALDI, BERNARDINO (b. Urbino, Italy, 5 June
1553; d. Urbino, 10 October 1617), mechanics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BORELLI, GIOVANNI ALFONSO (b. Naples, Italy,
January 1608; d. Rome, Italy, 31 December 1679),
astronomy, epidemiology, mathematics, physiology
(iatromechanics ), physics, volcanology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BRUNO, GIORDANO (b. Nola, Italy, 1548; d. Rome,
Italy, 17 February 1600), philosophy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BUCKLAND, WILLIAM (b. Axminster, England, 12
March 1784; d. Islip, England, 14 August 1856),
geology, paleontology.
NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
BUFFON, GEORGES-LOUIS LECLERC, COMTE
DE (b. Montbard, France, 7 September 1707; d. Paris,
France, 16 April 1788); natural history.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BURNET, THOMAS (b. Croft, Yorkshire, England,
ca. 1635; d. London, England, 27 September 1715),
cosmogony, geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CARDANO, GIROLAMO (b. Pavia, Italy, 24 September
1501; d. Rome, Italy, 21 September 1576),
medicine, mathematics, physics, philosophy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CHAMBERS, ROBERT (b. Peebles, Scotland, 10 July
1802; d. St. Andrews, Scotland, 17 March 1871), biology,
geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
COMMANDINO, FEDERICO (b. Urbino, Italy,
1509; d. Urbino, 3 September 1575), mathematics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CONYBEARE, WILLIAM DANIEL (b. London,
England, June 1787; d. Llandaff, Wales, 12 August
1857), geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
CUVIER, GEORGES (b. Montbéliard,
Württemberg,
23 August 1769; d. Paris, France, 13 May 1832),
zoology, paleontology, history of science.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
DESCARTES, RENÉ DU PERRON (b. La Haye,
Touraine, France, 31 March 1596; d. Stockholm,
Sweden, 11 February 1650), natural philosophy, scientific
method, mathematics, optics, mechanics, physiology.
NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY DESCARTES: Mathematics and Physics. NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY DESCARTES: Physiology. BIBLIOGRAPHY
GALILEI, GALILEO (b. Pisa, Italy, 15 February
1564; d. Arcetri, Italy, 8 January 1642), physics,
astronomy.
Early Years. Professorship at Pisa. Professorship at Padua. Early Work on Free Fall. The Telescope. Controversies at Florence. Dialogue on the World Systems. The Trial of Galileo. Two New Sciences. Last Years. Sources of Galileo's Physics. Experiment and Mathematics. The Influence of Galileo. Personal Traits. BIBLIOGRAPHY
GASSENDI (GASSEND), PIERRE (b. Champtercier,
France, 22 January 1592; d. Paris, France, 24 October
1655), philosophy, astronomy, scholarship.
NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
GESNER, KONRAD (b. Zurich, Switzerland, 26
March 1516; d. Zurich, 13 March 1565), natural sciences,
medicine, philology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GOMPERTZ, BENJAMIN (b. London, England, 5
March 1779; d. London, 14 July 1865), mathematics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GOODRICH, EDWIN STEPHEN (b. Weston-super-Mare,
England, 21 June 1868; d. Oxford, England,
6 January 1946), comparative anatomy, embryology,
paleontology, evolution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GOULD, JOHN (b. Lyme Regis, England, 14 September
1804; d. London, England, 3 February 1881),
ornithology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
HITCHCOCK, EDWARD (b. Deerfield, Massachusetts,
24 May 1793; d. Amherst, Massachusetts, 27
February 1864), geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
HARRIS, JOHN (b. Shropshire [?], England, ca.
1666; d. Norton Court, Kent, England, 7 September
1719), natural philosophy, dissemination of knowledge.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
HOBBES, THOMAS (b. Malmesbury, England, 5
April 1588; d. Hardwick, Derbyshire, England, 4 December
1679), political philosophy, moral philosophy,
geometry, optics.
NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
HOOKE, ROBERT (b. Freshwater, Isle of Wight,
England, 18 July 1635; d. London, England, 3 March
1702), physics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
HUTTON, JAMES (b. Edinburgh, Scotland, 3 June
1726; d. Edinburgh, 26 March 1797), geology, agriculture,
physical sciences, philosophy.
Geology. The Theory of the Earth. Reception of the Theory. Agriculture and Evolution. Physical Sciences. Philosophy. NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
JORDANUS DE NEMORE (fl. ca. 1220), mechanics,
mathematics.
NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
KEILL, JOHN BIBLIOGRAPHY
LAMARCK, JEAN BAPTISTE PIERRE ANTOINE
DE MONET DE (b. Bazentin-le-Petit, Picardy,
France, 1 August 1744; d. Paris, France, 28 December
1829), botany, invertebrate zoology and paleontology,
evolution.
Botany. Institutional Affiliations. Chemistry. Meteorology. Invertebrate Zoology and Paleontology. Geology. Theory of Evolution. Origins of Lamarck's Theory. Lamarck's Reputation. BIBLIOGRAPHY
LEA, ISAAC (b. Wilmington, Delaware, 4 March
1792; d. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 8 December
1886), malacology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LEIBNIZ, GOTTFRIED WILHELM (b. Leipzig,
Germany, 1 July 1646; d. Hannover, Germany,
14 November 1716), mathematics, philosophy, metaphysics.
LEIBNIZ: Physics, Logic, Metaphysics NOTES LEIBNIZ: Mathematics BIBLIOGRAPHY
LISTER, MARTIN (christened Radclive, Buckinghamshire,
England, 11 April 1639; d. Epsom, England,
2 February 1712), zoology, geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
LYELL, CHARLES (b. Kinnordy, Kirriemuir, Angus,
Scotland, 14 November 1797; d. London, England,
22 February 1875), geology, evolutionary biology.
NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
MANTELL, GIDEON ALGERNON (b. Lewes, Sussex,
England, 3 February 1790; d. London, England,
10 November 1852), geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MILLER, HUGH (b. Cromarty, Scotland, 10 October
1802; d. Portobello, Scotland, 24 December 1856),
geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MONTE, GUIDOBALDO, MARCHESE DEL (b.
Pesaro, Italy, 11 January 1545; d. Montebaroccio,
6 January 1607), mechanics, mathematics, astronomy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MURCHISON, RODERICK IMPEY (b. Tarradale,
Ross and Cromarty, Scotland, 19 February 1792;
d. London, England, 22 October 1871), geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NEWTON, ISAAC (b. Woolsthorpe, England,
25 December 1642; d. London, England, 20 March
1727), mathematics, dynamics, celestial mechanics,
astronomy, optics, natural philosophy.
Lucasian Professor. On 1 October 1667, some two
years after his graduation, Newton was elected minor
fellow of Trinity, and on 16 March 1668 he was
admitted major fellow. He was created M.A. on
7 July 1668 and on 29 October 1669, at the age of
twenty-six, he was appointed Lucasian professor. He
succeeded Isaac Barrow, first incumbent of the chair,
and it is generally believed that Barrow resigned his
professorship so that Newton might have it.10
Mathematics. Any summary of Newton's contributions
to mathematics must take account not only
of his fundamental work in the calculus and other
aspects of analysis--including infinite series (and most
notably the general binomial expansion)--but also his
activity in algebra and number theory, classical and
analytic geometry, finite differences, the classification
of curves, methods of computation and approximation,
and even probability. Optics. Dynamics, Astronomy, and the Birth of the
“Principia.” Mathematics in the “Principia.” The “Principia”: General Plan. The “Principia”: Definitions and Axioms. Book I of the “Principia.” Book II of the “Principia.” Book III, “The System of the World.” Revision of the “Opticks” (the Later Queries);
Chemistry and Theory of Matter. Alchemy, Prophecy, and Theology. Chronology and
History. The London Years: the Mint, the Royal Society,
Quarrels with Flamsteed and with Leibniz. Newton's Philosophy: The Rules of Philosophizing,
the General Scholium, the Queries of the “Opticks.” NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
OWEN, RICHARD (b. Lancaster, England, 20 July
1804; d. Richmond Park, London, England,
18 December 1892), comparative anatomy, vertebrate
paleontology, geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PACIOLI, LUCA (b. Sansepolcro, Italy, ca. 1445;
d. Sansepolcro, 1517), mathematics, bookkeeping.
NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
PLAYFAIR, JOHN (b. Benvie, near Dundee,
Scotland, 10 March 1748; d. Edinburgh, Scotland,
20 July 1819), mathematics, physics, geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PLAYFAIR, LYON (b. Chunar, India, 21 May 1818;
d. London, England, 29 May 1898), chemistry.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PLOT, ROBERT (b. Borden, Kent, England,
13 December 1640; d. Borden, 30 April 1696), natural
history, archaeology, chemistry.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SCHEUCHZER, JOHANN JAKOB (b. Zurich,
Switzerland, 2 August 1672; d. Zurich, 23 June
1733), medicine, natural history, mathematics,
geology, geophysics.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SCHOTT, GASPAR (b. Königshofen, near Würzburg,
Germany, 5 February 1608; d. Würzburg,
22 May 1666), mathematics, physics, technology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SCROPE, GEORGE JULIUS POULETT (b. London,
England, 10 March 1797; d. Fairlawn [near
Cobham], Surrey, England, 19 January 1876), geology.
NOTES BIBLIOGRAPHY
SEDGWICK, ADAM (b. Dent, Yorkshire, England,
22 March 1785; d. Cambridge, England, 27
January 1873), geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
SMITH, WILLIAM (b. Churchill, Oxfordshire,
England, 23 March 1769; d. Northampton, England,
28 August 1839), geology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
STENSEN, NIELS, also known as Nicolaus Steno
(b. Copenhagen, Denmark, 1%6111 January 1638; d.
Schwerin, Germany, 25 November/5 December
1686), anatomy, geology, mineralogy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
STERNBERG, KASPAR MARIA VON (b. Prague,
Bohemia [now in Czechoslovakia], 6 January 1761;
d. Březina castle, Radnice, 20 December 1838),
botany, geology, paleontology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
WOODWARD, JOHN (b. Derbyshire, England, 1
May 1665; d. London, England, 25 April 1728),
geology, mineralogy, botany.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Electronic edition published by Cultural Heritage Langauge Technologies (with permission from Charles Scribners and Sons) and funded by the National Science Foundation International Digital Libraries Program. This text has been proofread to a low degree of accuracy. It was converted to electronic form using data entry.
WOODWARD, JOHN (b. Derbyshire, England, 1
May 1665; d. London, England, 25 April 1728),
geology, mineralogy, botany.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Table of Contents Page 314 of 314
Natural History of the Earth (London, 1726), which is
identical with the previous work, except for the title;
Fossils of All Kinds Digested Into a Method (London,
1728); and An Attempt Towards a Natural History of
the Fossils of England . . . (London, 1729).
Woodward's botanical paper, “Some Thoughts and
Experiments Concerning Vegetation,” is in Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society , 21 (1699),
193 - 227.
II. SECONDARY LITERATURE.
The principal biographical
source is J. Ward, Lives of the Professors of Gresham
College (London, 1740), 283 - 301. See also J. W.
Clark and T. McKenny Hughes, Life and Letters of
Adam Sedgwick . . . Woodwardian Professor of Geology ,
I (Cambridge, 1890), 166 - 189, for the establishment
of the Woodwardian chair in geology.
For contemporary commentaries on Woodward's
Essay , see J. A[rbuthnot], An Examination of Dr.
Woodward's Account of the Deluge, &c. (London,
1697), and J. Harris, Remarks on Some Late Papers,
Relating to the Universal Deluge: and to the Natural
History of the Earth (London, 1697). A critical commentary
on Woodward's geological views in relation to those
of his contemporaries and eighteenth-century successors
is in K. B. Collier, Cosmogonies of Our Fathers (New
York, 1934; repr. 1968).
Woodward's quarrel with the Royal Society is described
by G. R. De Beer in Sir Hans Sloane and the
British Museum (London, 1953), 90 - 91. His botanical
work is discussed in H. H. Thomas, “Experimental
Plant Biology in Pre-Linnean Times,” in Bulletin of the
British Society for the History of Science , 2 (1955),
20 - 21.
Unpublished correspondence and MSS of Woodward
are preserved in the archives of the Royal Society of
London, and in the British Museum and Bodleian libraries.
His correspondence with Cotton Mather and other
naturalists in North America is discussed by R. P.
Stearns, in Science in the British Colonies of America
(Urbana, 1970).
V. A. EYLES
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