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Description
(Text)
Studies 7 (also available online) presents the biography of the
eighteenth-century English natural philosopher and chemist Henry
Cavendish. Two gifted eighteenth-century Londoners, Charles Cavendish and his painfully preeminent son Henry were descendants
of paired revolutions, one political and one scientific. Scions
of a powerful revolutionary family, they gave an original turn to
the duty of public service that attached to their social rank.
The English aristocracy knew one of its finest hours when Henry
Cavendish gently laid his delicate weights in the scales of the
first great precision balance of the century. For this action to
happen, it took two generations and two kinds of invention, one
in social forms and the other in scientific methods. This joint
biography of father and son tells how it came to pass. Henry
Cavendish is best known for his researches in chemistry,
electricity, and heat, but in truth he worked in every part of
physical science, bringing to it his unique combination of
experimental precision and mathematical penetration. His
accomplishment is likened to the highest example: since the death
of Newton, Humphry Davy wrote, England has suffered "no
scientific loss so great as that of Cavendish." Through
inheritance he became immensely rich. Regarding intellect and
fortune, he is called "the wisest of the rich and the richest of
the wise." In his exclusive devotion to science, he is compared
with "the most austere anchorites," who were "not more faithful
to their vows." With reference to his legendary shyness, he is
described as a man of "most reserved disposition," of a "degree
bordering on disease." He was, to be sure, all of these things:
one of the best scientists of his time, one of the richest men in
the kingdom, a member of one of the politically most influential
aristocratic families, a scientific fanatic, and a person of
extraordinary peculiarities. This biography, a major revision of
the original published in 1999, offers an enlarged understanding
of the eighteenth century world of science and a reevaluation
both of the scientific genius and of the remarkable personality
of Henry Cavendish. It is a comprehensive study of science,
family, and society in the eighteenth century. The publications
of the Studies series are dedicated to key subjects in the
history and development of knowledge, bringing together
perspectives from different fields and combining source-based
empirical research with theoretically guided approaches. (Second revised edition 2016)
(Table of content)
List of Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Problem of Cavendish
Part I: Lord Charles Cavendish
The Dukes
Politics
Science
Family and Friends
Public Activities
Part II: The Honorable Henry Cavendish
Education of Henry Cavendish
Science
Early Researches
Electricity
Learned Organizations
Places
Associates
Politics
Air and Water
Mercury
Earth
Last Years
Cavendish
Appendix I: Family Trees
Appendix II: Chronology and Publications
List of Abbreviations
Archives
Bibliography
(Author portrait)
Russell McCormmach earned Bachelor's degrees from the Washington State University and Oxford University, and in 1967 the PhD from Case Western Reserve University. He has taught physics, mathematics, and the history of science at several institutions, including Washington State University, San Francisco State University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, Whitman College and University of Oregon.
