Stephen Gray

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Stephen Gray (born December 1666 in Canterbury , † February 7 or 15, 1736 in London ) was an English scientist.

Live and act

Stephen Gray was born in Canterbury in December 1666 to the dyer Mathias Gray; He was baptized on December 26, 1666. He did not pursue a university career, but possibly conducted studies in London or Greenwich under John Flamsteed and learned the Latin language. His constant correspondence with Flamsteed is documented.

In the 1690s and until 1716 he made astrometric observations and carried out quantitative and qualitative studies of solar and lunar eclipses, sunspots, the planet of Jupiter and much more.

He became an assistant for the planned observatory of Trinity College, Cambridge , and 1707/8 employee of Trinity College as an assistant to Roger Cotes . From 1715 to 1719 he was assistant to John Theophilus Desaguliers in Westminster. In 1719 he received a pension from the Charterhouse, London, through the operation of the Prince of Wales until his death.

Lines of Communication

Gray, along with his friend Granville Wheler, conducted pioneering experiments on electricity since 1708 . This included experiments on the electrostatic charging of glass tubes through friction. To Gray's surprise, it wasn't just the tubes that were electrified, but especially the corks that closed them. Further attempts to transmit static electricity followed, for example with increasingly longer hemp cords, at the end of which an ivory ball hung and put on goose feathers. They called the cords Lines of Communication . To prove that human bodies also conduct electricity, on April 8, 1730, they replaced the hemp cord with a schoolboy, which they hung horizontally on horsehair loops. A business card stand with tinfoil leaves was placed under his outstretched arm. When a charged glass tube was held against the soles of his feet, the tinfoil leaflets flew into his hand.

In 1729 he was the first to divide substances into electrical conductors and non-conductors .

Due to the influence of Isaac Newton , the President of the Royal Society who had fallen out with Gray's friend Flamsteed , most of Gray's works could only be published after his death in 1736. In 1731 and 1732 Gray was awarded the first two Copley medals . After his death, he was probably buried in a mass grave for residents of a home for the poor.

Fonts

  • Several Microscopical Observations and Experiments, Made by Mr. Stephen Gray . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 19, 1695, pp. 280-287, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1695.0040 .
  • A Letter from Mr. Stephen Gray, Giving a Further Account of His Water Microscope . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 19, 1695, pp. 353-356, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1695.0058 .
  • A Letter from Mr. Stephen Gray, from Canterbury, May the 12th 1697, concerning Making Water Subservient to the Viewing Both Near and Distant Objects, with the Description of a Natural Reflecting Microscope . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 19, 1695, pp. 539-542, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1695.0092 .
  • A Letter from Mr. Stephen Gray, Dated Canterbury, Dec. 8. 1697. Relating Some Experiments about Making Concave Specula Nearly of a Parabolick Figure . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 19, 1695, pp. 787-790, doi : 10.1098 / rstl . 1695.0146 .
  • Part of a Letter from Mr. Stephen Gray, about a Way of Measuring the Heighth of the Mercury in the Barometer More Exactly . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 20, 1698, pp. 176-178, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1698.0027 .
  • An Observation of Some Parelii Lakes at Canterbury. By Mr. Stephen Gray . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 21, 1698, pp. 126-127, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1699.0026 .
  • Part of a Letter from Mr Gray, concerning an Unusual Parhelion and Halo . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 22, 1700, p. 535, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1700.0021 .
  • Part of a Letter from Mr Stephen Gray to the Publisher, containing His Observations on the Fossils of Reculver Clisfe, and a New Way of Drawing the Meridian Line, With a Note on This Letter by the Publisher . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 22, 1700, pp. 762-764, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1700.0068 .
  • A Letter from Mr Stephen Gray, concerning Drawing the Meridian Line by the Pole Star, and Finding the Hour by the Same . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 22, 1700, pp. 815-819, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1700.0079 .
  • Part of Two Letters from Mr Stephen Gray, concerning the Spots of the Sun, observ'd by Him in June Last . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 23, 1702, pp. 1502-1504, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1702.0066 .
  • An Account of Some New Electrical Experiments. By Mr. Stephen Gray . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 31, 1720, pp. 104-107, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1720.0025 .
  • A Letter to Cromwell Mortimer, MD Secr. RS Containing Several Experiments concerning Electricity; By Mr. Stephen Gray . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 37, 1731, pp. 18-44, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1731.0005 .
  • A Letter concerning the Electricity of Water, from Mr. Stephen Gray to Cromwell Mortimer, MD Secr. RS In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 37, 1731, pp. 227-260, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1731.0040 .
  • A Letter from Mr. Stephen Gray to Dr. Mortimer, Secr. RS Containing a Farther Account of His Experiments concerning Electricity . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 37, 1731, pp. 285-291, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1731.0050 .
  • Two Letters from Mr. Stephen Gray, FRS to C. Mortimer, MD Secr. RS Containing Farther Accounts of His Experiments concerning Electricity . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 37, 1731, pp. 397-407, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1731.0067 .
  • A Letter from Mr. Stephen Gray, FRS to the Publisher, Containing an Account of the Same Eclipse of the Sun, as Observed by Himself at Norton-Court: And at Otterden-Place, by Granville Wheler Esq; FRS Both in Kent . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 38, 1733, pp. 114-116, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1733.0021 .
  • Experiments and Observations upon the Light That is Produced by Communicating Electrical Attraction to Animal or Inanimate Bodies, Together with Some of Its Most Surprising Effects; Communicated in a Letter from Mr. Stephen Gray, FRS to Cromwell Mortimer, MDRS Secr. In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 39, 1735, pp. 16-24, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1735.0006 .
  • A Letter from Stephen Gray, FRS to Dr. Mortimer, Secr. RS Containing Some Experiments Relating to Electricity . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 39, 1735, pp. 166-170, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1735.0028 .
  • Mr. Stephen Gray, FRS His Last Letter to Granville Wheler, Esq; FRS Concerning the Revolutions Which Small Pendulous Bodies Will, by Electricity, Make Round Larger Ones from West to East as the Planets do Round the Sun . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 39, 1735, p. 220, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1735.0044 .
  • An Account of Some Electrical Experiments Intended to be Communicated to the Royal Society by Mr. Stephen Gray, FRS Taken from His Mouth by Cromwell Mortimer, MDRS Secr. on Feb. 14, 1735-6. Being the Day before He Died . In: Philosophical Transactions . Volume 39, 1735, pp. 400-403, doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1735.0082 .

further reading

  • David H. Clark, Lesley Murdin: The enigma of Stephen Gray astronomer and scientist (1666-1736) . In: Vistas in Astronomy . tape 23 , no. 4 , 1979, p. 351-404 , doi : 10.1016 / 0083-6656 (79) 90018-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b David H. Clark, Lesley Murdin: The enigma of Stephen Gray astronomer and scientist (1666-1736) . In: Vistas in Astronomy . tape 23 , no. 4 , 1979, p. 351-404 , doi : 10.1016 / 0083-6656 (79) 90018-7 .
  2. ↑ Mr. Stephen Gray, FRS His Last Letter to Granville Wheler, Esq; FRS concerning the Revolutions Which Small Pendulous Bodies Will, by Electricity, Make Round Larger Ones from West to East as the Planets do Round the Sun (January 1, 1753)
  3. ↑ sparkmuseum.com: Stephen Gray (1666-1736)
  4. ↑ Schaffer on Stephen Gray and Granville Wheler's Electric Planetarium
  5. ↑ David H. Clark & ​​Stephen HP Clark: Newton's Tyranny: The Suppressed Scientific Discoveries of Stephen Gray and John Flamsteed. New York, Freeman and Co., 2001
personal data
SURNAME Gray, Stephen
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English scientist
DATE OF BIRTH baptized December 26, 1666
PLACE OF BIRTH Canterbury , Kent , England
DATE OF DEATH February 7, 1736 or February 15, 1736
Place of death London