John Walsh (naturalist)

John Walsh (born July 1, 1726 in Fort St. George , Madras , † March 9, 1795 in London ) was a British naturalist and politician.

Live and act

John Walsh was a son of Joseph Walsh, governor of Fort St. George, and Elizabeth Muskelyne, daughter of court astronomer Nevil Maskelyne . In 1742 he entered the service of the British East India Company and became paymaster of the troops in Madras . In 1757 Robert Clive appointed him his private secretary. In 1761 Walsh returned to England and bought the Hockenhull estate in Cheshire . In 1771 he moved to Warfield Park near Bracknell . For Worcester he was a member of parliament until 1780 . On November 8, 1770 he was elected a member of the Royal Society and on January 10, 1771 also a member of the Society of Antiquaries of London .

On June 8, 1772, Walsh traveled from London to Paris, where he arrived on June 15 and spent a week. On June 26th, Walsh arrived in La Rochelle . There and on the nearby island of Île de Ré , he experimented with a species of the genus Torpedo from the electric ray family . After just a few days, he was the first to be able to demonstrate experimentally the electrical nature of the shocks distributed by the fish. His letter to Benjamin Franklin was read to members of the Royal Society on July 1, 1773. In 1773, Walsh was awarded the Copley Medal for his research on electric fish .

Fonts (selection)

• Of the Electric Property of the Torpedo. In a letter from John Walsh, Esq; FRS to Benjamin Franklin, Esq; LL.D., FRS, Ac. R. Par. Soc. Ext., & C. In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 63, pp. 461-480, 1773/1774 ( doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1773.0039 ) - with Sieu Seignette
• John Walsh: Of Torpedos Found on the Coast of England. In a letter from John Walsh, Esq; FRS to Thomas Pennant, Esq; FRS In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 64, pp. 464–473, 1774 ( doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1774.0046 )
• Experiments and Observations on the Gymnotus Electricus, or Electrical Eel. By Hugh Williamson, MD Communicated by John Walsh, Esq. FRS In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 65, pp. 94-101, 1775 ( doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1775.0011 ) - with Hugh Williamson

proof

• Marco Piccolino: The Taming of the Ray. Electric Fish Research in the Enlightenment, from John Walsh to Alessandro Volta (Biblioteca di Nuncius, vol. 48). Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2003 ( PDF ).
• www.berkshirehistory.com Entry on David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History Website

further reading

• Marco Piccolino, Marco Bresadola: Drawing a spark from darkness: John Walsh and electric fish . Endeavor. 2002 Mar; 26 (1): 19-26
• EI Carlyle, rev. Anita McConnell: Walsh, John (1726-1795). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), Last updated: 2004, accessed August 16, 2012.

Web links

• Entry to Walsh; John (1726-1795); Naturalist in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
• John Walsh's notebook from June 26th to July 27th 1772 in the Archives of the Royal Society , London