Francis Bashforth

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Francis Bashforth (born January 8, 1819 in Thurnscoe , Yorkshire , † February 12, 1912 in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire ) was a British ballistic scientist and mathematician.

Life

Bashforth studied at Cambridge University , where he was Second Wrangler in the Tripos exams in 1843 (second best) and then a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge University. He then took the ordinations of the Anglican Church and was principal of the Minting School in Lincolnshire from 1857 to 1892 .

Between 1864 and 1880 he carried out systematic ballistic experiments, with which he examined in particular the air resistance of projectiles, and invented a chronograph for measuring the speed of the projectiles. For his experiments, which were essential for the creation of shooting boards and range calculations for bullets, he also received financial support from the British government in the amount of 2000 pounds. At times he was also a mathematics professor at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich.

In addition to ballistics, he also dealt with the theory of the shape of liquid droplets under surface tension and bridge building.

The Adams-Bashforth process is named after him and John Couch Adams (see multi-step process ). He applied this to calculating the shape of liquid droplets in 1883.

Fonts

  • Description of a chronograph adapted for measuring the varying velocity of a body in motion through the air and for other purposes . Bell and Daldy, London 1866
  • A mathematical treatise on the motion of projectiles founded chiefly on the results of experiments made with the authors chronograph . Asher and Company, London 1873
  • Ballistic experiments from 1864 to 1880 . Cambridge University Press, 1907, archive.org
  • Revised account of the experiments made with the Bashforth Chronograph, to find the resistance of the air to the motion of projectiles, with the application of the results to the calculation of trajectories according to J. Bernoullis method . Cambridge University Press, 1890
  • A Historical Sketch of the Experimental Determination of the Resistance of the Air to the Motion of Projectiles . Cambridge University Press, 1903, archive.org

literature

personal data
SURNAME Bashforth, Francis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British ballistician and mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Thurnscoe
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1912
Place of death Woodhall Spa