William Small

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William Small

William Small (born October 13, 1734 in Carmyllie , Scotland , † February 25, 1775 in Birmingham ) was a scholar and professor in Virginia before the American Declaration of Independence and a formative thought leader of his student Thomas Jefferson .

Born the son of the Presbyterian pastor James Small, Small began his education at the Dundee Grammar School in order to study medicine and natural sciences from 1755 onwards at Marischall College in Aberdeen ; his curriculum included mathematics, natural philosophy, classical languages, chemistry, anatomy, materia medica (now: pharmacology), surgery and obstetrics. Towards the end of his studies, at the age of 24, Small was appointed professor of natural sciences in 1758 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg in what was then the English colony of Virginia. Small interrupted his studies for the time of his professorship, but took it up again after his return and finished it in the same year.

Between 1758 and 1764, Small gave his lectures in Williamsburg in English, which aroused resentment among professors, as they traditionally taught in Latin, which was very much welcomed by the students. His views of the natural order of things and the resulting political consequences found many interested listeners among the student body. Thomas Jefferson was one of those students; a personal friendship developed between him and Small that had a great influence on Jefferson. In his autobiography, Jefferson makes it clear that his policies, which found very strong echoes in the American Constitution and Senate parliamentary rules , and both of which came largely from Jefferson's pen, were heavily influenced by Small.

In 1764 Small returned to Aberdeen after his candidacy for chancellor of the university had failed. After obtaining his doctorate, he opened a medical practice in Birmingham. A letter of recommendation from Benjamin Franklin quickly brought him into contact with Erasmus Darwin and his friend Matthew Boulton , an entrepreneur. Together they founded the Lunar Society in 1765 , a small group of friends of ambitious scientists, philosophers, entrepreneurs and poets that developed into an important think tank of the early industrial revolution.

Small died on February 25, 1775 of a malaria infection that he contracted while in Virginia. His grave is in the graveyard of St. Philips Church in Birmingham.

In 1963, a new building on the campus of the College of William and Mary was named Small Hall in honor of Small .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lord Ritchie-Calder : An elite circle 200 years ago: the Lunar Society of Birmingham . In: Gerhard Piehl (Hrsg.): Spectrum of science . Heidelberg August 1982, p. 102 .
  2. ↑ Entry in the university's own Wiki about Small Hall ( Memento from March 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive )

literature

  • Robert E. Schofield: The Lunar Society of Birmingham: a social history of provincial science and industry in eighteenth-century England . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1963.
  • Jenny Uglow : The Lunar Men . 2nd Edition. Faber And Faber Ltd, London 2003, ISBN 0-571-21610-2 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Small, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Thomas Jeffersons teacher and co-founder of the Lunar Society of Birmingham
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1734
PLACE OF BIRTH Carmyllie , Scotland
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 1775
Place of death Birmingham