John Whitehurst

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John Whitehurst. Portrait of Joseph Wright

John Whitehurst (born April 10, 1713 in Congleton , England , † February 18, 1788 in London ) was a clockmaker , scientific instrument maker and early geologist .

Born as the son of the watchmaker John Whitehurst the Elder, he took over his father's trade and quickly became known for his precise instruments based on his own fine mechanical improvements. Among other things, he worked on innovations together with watchmaker Benjamin Franklin . After moving to Derby around 1736, Whitehurst expanded its range of instruments to include various measuring instruments for the then burgeoning systematic scientific research. Improved thermometers for determining the temperature of liquid metal and the expansion of metals when heated brought him into contact with the circle of scientists, philosophers and entrepreneurs around Erasmus Darwin and Matthew Boulton , the Lunar Society , of which he quickly became an essential member .

Whitehurst designed a series of astronomical clocks for Matthew Boulton, the so-called philosophical clocks , which indicated the positions of the sun and stars and were manufactured in a small series at the Soho Manufactory . Some of them can still be admired in museums around the world; a unique piece in this series, which was offered to Catherine the Great (but she declined because the clock was not playing melodies), is on display today in Boulton's villa on his former factory site .

Whitehurst's work on precision instruments and measurements led to his appointment in 1774 as guardian of the duplicates of the royal mint; on May 13, 1779 Whitehurst was elected to the Royal Society .

Outside of his job, Whitehurst was particularly interested in geology . To do this, he wandered through the landscapes of his surroundings for about 15 years, mapped rocks and rock layers he found and systematically used existing mines to explore the strata of the subsurface. His work first found its way into the planning for the construction of the canals, which were to connect the industrial centers of the surrounding area from around 1758. In this regard, Whitehurst worked particularly with Darwin, Boulton and Josiah Wedgwood on a project near Birmingham for which Wedgwood had taken the lead. At the same time, Whitehurst was working on a book that was supposed to decide the then controversial question of whether the earth had been created invariably by God or dynamically emerged from fire and was still subject to change. The book, which first appeared in 1778, was called " An Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth " and contained a large number of very precise geographic studies of Derbyshire , which were expanded and refined in the following editions (1786 and 1792) and as a landmark of the systematic geology apply. In terms of content, Whitehurst tried to find a compromise between plutonism , Neptunism and creationism , but this was rejected on all sides. He also made early geological profiles in Derbyshire in 1782.

Whitehurst died on February 18, 1788 at his home on London's Fleet Street. He was buried on St. Andrew's burying ground .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry on Whitehurst; John (1713-1788) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London

literature

Web links

Commons : John Whitehurst  - collection of images, videos and audio files