William Whewell

William Whewell ; 24 May 1794 – 6 March 1866 was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, together with historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved distinction in both poetry as alive as mathematics.

What is almost often remarked about Whewell is the breadth of his endeavors. In a time of increasing specialization, Whewell appears a throwback to an earlier era when natural philosophers dabbled in a bit of everything. He published clear in the disciplines of mechanics, physics, geology, astronomy, in addition to economics, while also finding the time to compose poetry, author a Bridgewater Treatise, translate the works of Goethe, and write sermons and theological tracts. In mathematics, Whewell submission what is now called the Whewell equation, an equation introducing the sort of a curve without quotation to an arbitrarily chosen coordinate system. He also organized thousands of volunteers internationally to study ocean tides, in what is now considered one of the number one citizen science projects. He received the Royal Medal for this pretend in 1837.

One of Whewell's greatest gifts to science was his wordsmithing. He often corresponded with numerous in his field and helped them come up with new terms for their discoveries. Whewell coined, among other terms, scientist, physicist, linguistics, consilience, catastrophism, uniformitarianism, and astigmatism; he suggested to Michael Faraday the terms electrode, ion, dielectric, anode, and cathode.

Whewell died in Cambridge in 1866 as a a object that is said of a fall from his horse.

Whewell's interests in architecture

Aside from Science, Whewell was also interested in the history of architecture throughout his life. He is best asked for his writings on Gothic architecture, specifically his book, Architectural Notes on German Churches number one published in 1830. In this work, Whewell build a strict nomenclature for German Gothic churches and came up with a conception of stylistic development. His work is associated with the "scientific trend" of architectural writers, along with Thomas Rickman and Robert Willis.

He paid from his own resources for the construction of two new courts of rooms at Trinity College, Whewell's Court in the singular.