William Whewell

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William Whewell

William Whewell (born May 24, 1794 in Lancaster , † March 6, 1866 in Cambridge , pronunciation ˈhjuːəl ) was a British philosopher and historian of science.

Live and act

William Whewell was a Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge from 1817 and President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1818 . From 1828 to 1832 he was professor of mineralogy and from 1838 to 1855 professor of moral philosophy ("moral theology and casuistical divinity") at Cambridge University .

Whewell's creations of words are among his lasting contributions to science. In 1834, in a review of Mary Somervilles On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, he first used the word scientist , the English word for scientist. In the same writing, he also contradicted the thesis of the philosopher François Poullain de La Barre that the mind has no gender, and thus assigned men and women - according to a scientific discourse of his time - a different but in both cases justified ability to conduct science. Above all, at the request of Michael Faraday , whose work on the chemical effects of electric current required new terms , he coined the terms anode , cathode , anion , cation and ion .

Whewell died in the grounds of Trinity College, Cambridge, in a fatal fall from his horse in 1866. In his will, he endowed, among other things, the Whewell Chair in International Law at Cambridge University, which was established two years after his death.

Honors

Fonts (selection)

  • An Essay on Mineralogical Classification and Nomenclature. 1828 ( at Internet Archive )
  • On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, by Mrs. Somerville . In: The Quarterly Review . Volume 51, 1834, pp. 54-68 ( online ).
  • Astronomy and General Physics considered with reference to Natural Theology . (a Bridgewater Treatises ).
  • The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences . 1840.
  • The Elements of Morality, including Polity . 1845.
  • The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences founded upon their History . 1840, 2nd edition 1847 ( at Internet Archive )
  • History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Time . 1837ff., 3rd edition 1873.
  • The History of Scientific Ideas . 1858.
  • Novum Organon Renovatum . 1858.
  • On the Philosophy of Discovery . 1860.
  • Six Lectures on Political Economy . 1862.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Whewell: On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, by Mrs. Somerville, in: Quarterly Review 51, March 1834, pp. 65-66.
  2. ↑ Londa Schiebinger: The Mind has no sex? Women in the Origins of Modern Science. Cambridge / MA, London: Harvard University Press , 1989, ISBN 0-674-57623-3 , p. 5.
  3. ^ Keith James Laidler: The world of physical chemistry . Oxford University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-19-855919-4 , p. 203
  4. ^ Entry on Whewell; William (1794 - 1866) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
  5. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 22, 2020 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Whewell, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British philosopher and economic historian
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1794
PLACE OF BIRTH Lancaster , England
DATE OF DEATH March 6, 1866
Place of death Cambridge , England