George Gregory (clergyman)

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George Gregory (born April 17, 1754 in Ireland , † March 12, 1808 ) was an English clergyman of the Church of England and author of popular scientific works, for example on physics. He was the principal in West Ham, Essex.

Gregory completed a commercial training in Liverpool and was a commercial clerk there, but was more interested in literature and theater and ran a small private theater for which he also wrote dramas and comedies. He studied theology in Edinburgh and was ordained a priest. In 1792 he received his doctorate in theology (DD). In 1782 he moved to London and was evening preacher in London's Erratic Hospital . In 1802 he received the parish of West Ham in Essex, probably in gratitude for his support from Prime Minister Addington (for this he switched politically from the Whigs to the Tories , the party of Addington). In 1806 he became a prebender to St. Paul's Cathedral and when he died he was chaplain to the Bishop of Llandaff. He was largely self-taught.

He was a member of the Royal Human Society. Many popular science books come from him, mostly of a compilatory nature, first Essays Historical and Moral , which initially appeared anonymously in 1783 and in a second edition in 1788 under his name. He also published a sermon volume.

Stephen Brush quotes Gregory's The Economy of Nature in his book Kinetic Theory as an overview of the then popular views on thermodynamics in the footsteps of Joseph Black . The book saw three editions in quick succession (1796, 1798, 1804).

After Brush he was not of great importance as a scientist, but wrote widespread overviews of physics and chemistry of a popular scientific nature. Reading his Lectures on Experimental Philosophy and Chemistry stimulated Joseph Henry to study physics.

In 1795 he succeeded Kippis as editor of the Biographia Britannica . The encyclopedia made slow progress, however, and the edition of the sixth volume burned in a warehouse in 1808. For a few years he also published the New Annual Register (a political-historical yearbook, also started by Kippis).

Fonts (selection)

In 1787 he published a volume of sermons with an introduction to Thoughts on the composition and delivery of a sermon . He also edited a translation of Bishop Lowth's lectures on Hebrew poetry (2 volumes, first in 1787, last edition in 1847) and a revision of the translation of Télémaque by François Fénelon (originally by Hawkesworth).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Brush prints excerpts from the chapter The existence of fire from The Economy of Nature , 1798, Volume 1, pp. 93-96. Brush, Kinetic Theory, Vol. 1, pp. 66-70
personal data
SURNAME Gregory, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British clergyman and author
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1754
PLACE OF BIRTH Ireland
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1808