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See also:BREWSTER, See also:SIR See also:DAVID (1781–1868) , Scottish natural philosopher, was See also:born on the 11th of See also:December 1781 at See also:Jedburgh, where his See also:father, a teacher of high reputation, was See also:rector of the See also:grammar school. At the See also:early See also:age of twelve he was sent to the university of See also:Edinburgh, being intended for the clerical profession. Even before this, however, he had shown a strong inclination for natural See also:science, and this had been fostered by his intimacy with a " self-taught philosopher, astronomer and mathematician," as Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott called him, of See also:great See also:local fame—James See also:Veitch of Inchbonny, who was particularly skilful in making telescopes. Though he duly finished his theological course and was licensed to preach, Brewster's preference for other pursuits prevented him from engaging in the active duties.of his profession. In 1799 he was induced by his See also:fellow-student, See also:- HENRY
- HENRY (1129-1195)
- HENRY (c. 1108-1139)
- HENRY (c. 1174–1216)
- HENRY (Fr. Henri; Span. Enrique; Ger. Heinrich; Mid. H. Ger. Heinrich and Heimrich; O.H.G. Haimi- or Heimirih, i.e. " prince, or chief of the house," from O.H.G. heim, the Eng. home, and rih, Goth. reiks; compare Lat. rex " king "—" rich," therefore " mig
- HENRY, EDWARD LAMSON (1841– )
- HENRY, JAMES (1798-1876)
- HENRY, JOSEPH (1797-1878)
- HENRY, MATTHEW (1662-1714)
- HENRY, PATRICK (1736–1799)
- HENRY, PRINCE OF BATTENBERG (1858-1896)
- HENRY, ROBERT (1718-1790)
- HENRY, VICTOR (1850– )
- HENRY, WILLIAM (1795-1836)
Henry See also:Brougham, to study the diffraction of See also:light. The results of his investigations were communicated from See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time to time in papers to the Philosophical Transactions of See also:London and other scientific See also:journals, and were admirably and impartially summarized by See also:- JAMES
- JAMES (Gr. 'IlrKw,l3or, the Heb. Ya`akob or Jacob)
- JAMES (JAMES FRANCIS EDWARD STUART) (1688-1766)
- JAMES, 2ND EARL OF DOUGLAS AND MAR(c. 1358–1388)
- JAMES, DAVID (1839-1893)
- JAMES, EPISTLE OF
- JAMES, GEORGE PAYNE RAINSFOP
- JAMES, HENRY (1843— )
- JAMES, JOHN ANGELL (1785-1859)
- JAMES, THOMAS (c. 1573–1629)
- JAMES, WILLIAM (1842–1910)
- JAMES, WILLIAM (d. 1827)
James D. See also:Forbes in his preliminary dissertation to the eighth edition of the See also:Encyclopaedia Britannica. The fact that other philosophers, notably See also:Etienne See also:- LOUIS
- LOUIS (804–876)
- LOUIS (893–911)
- LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
- LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian
Louis See also:Malus and Augustin See also:Fresnel, were pursuing the same investigations contemporaneously in See also:France does not invalidate Brewster's claim to See also:independent See also:discovery, even though in one or two cases the priority must be assigned to others.
The most important subjects of his inquiries are enumerated by Forbes under the following five heads: (1) The See also:laws of polarization by reflection and See also:refraction, and other quantitative laws of phenomena; (2) The discovery of the polarizing structure induced by See also:heat and pressure; (3) The discovery of crystals with two axes of See also:double refraction, and many of the laws of their phenomena, including the connexion of See also:optical structure and crystalline forms; (4) The laws of metallic reflection; (5) Experiments on the absorption of light. In this See also:line of investigation the See also:prime importance belongs to the discovery (I) of the connexion between the refractive See also:index and the polarizing See also:angle, (2) of biaxial crystals, and (3) of the See also:production of double refraction by irregular See also:heating. These discoveries were promptly recognized. So early as the See also:year 1807 the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon Brewster by Marischal See also:College, See also:Aberdeen; in 1815 he was made a member of the Royal Society of London, and received the See also:Copley See also:medal; in 1818 he received the See also:Rumford
him one-See also:half of the See also:prize of three thousand francs for the two most important discoveries in See also:physical science made in See also:Europe during the two preceding years.
Among the non-scientific public his fame was spread more effectually by his rediscovery about 1815 of the See also:kaleidoscope, for which there was a great demand in both See also:England and See also:America. An See also:instrument of higher See also:interest, the See also:stereoscope, which, though of much later date (1849–1850), may be mentioned here, since along with the kaleidoscope it did more than anything else to popularize his name, was not, as has often been asserted, the invention of Brewster. Sir See also:Charles See also:Wheatstone discovered its principle and applied it as early as 1838 to the construction of a cumbrous but effective instrument, in which the See also:binocular pictures were made to combine by means of mirrors. To Brewster is due the merit of suggesting the use of lenses for the purpose of uniting the dissimilar pictures; and accordingly the lenticular stereo-See also:- SCOPE (through Ital. scopo, aim, purpose, intent, from Gr. o'KOaos, mark to shoot at, aim, o ic07reiv, to see, whence the termination in telescope, microscope, &c.)
scope may fairly be said to be his invention. A much more valuable See also:practical result of Brewster's optical researches was the improvement of the See also:British lighthouse See also:system. It is true that the dioptric apparatus was perfected independently by Fresnel, who had also the See also:satisfaction of being the first to put it into operation. But it is indisputable that Brewster was earlier in the See also:- FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
- FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
- FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
- FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
- FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
- FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
- FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
- FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
- FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
- FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
- FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)
field than Fresnel; that he described the dioptric apparatus in 1812; that he pressed its See also:adoption on those in authority at least as early as 182o, two years before Fresnel suggested it; and that it was finally introduced into British lighthouses mainly by his persistent efforts.
Brewster's own discoveries, important though they were, were not his only, perhaps not even his See also:chief, service to science. He began See also:literary See also:work in 1799 as a See also:regular contributor to the Edinburgh See also:Magazine, of which he acted as editor at the age of twenty. In 1807 he undertook the editorship of the newly projected Edinburgh Encyclopaedia, of which the first See also:part appeared in 18o8, and the last not until 1830. The work was strongest in the scientific See also:department, and many of its most valuable articles were from the See also:pen of the editor. At a later See also:period he was one of the leading contributors to the Encyclopaedia Britannica (seventh and eighth See also:editions), the articles on See also:Electricity, See also:Hydrodynamics, See also:Magnetism, See also:Microscope, See also:Optics, Stereoscope, Voltaic Electricity, &c., being from his pen.
In 1819 Brewster undertook further editorial work by establishing, in See also:conjunction with See also:Robert See also:Jameson (1774–1854), the Edinburgh Philosophical See also:Journal, which took the See also:place of the Edinburgh Magazine. The first ten volumes (1819–1824) were published under the See also:joint editorship of Brewster and Jameson, the remaining four volumes (1825–1826) being edited by Jameson alone. After parting See also:company with Jameson, Brewster started the Edinburgh Journal of Science in 1824, sixteen volumes of which appeared under his editorship during the years 1824–1832, with very many articles from his own pen. To the transactions of various learned See also:societies he contributed from first to last between three and four See also:hundred papers, and few of his contemporaries wrote so much for the various reviews. In the See also:North British See also:Review alone seventy-five articles of his appeared. A See also:list of his larger See also:separate See also:works will be found below. See also:Special mention, however, must be made of the most important of them all—his See also:biography of Sir See also:Isaac See also:Newton. In 1831 he published a See also:short popular See also:account of the philosopher's See also:life in• See also:- MURRAY
- MURRAY (or MORAY), EARLS OF
- MURRAY (or MORAY), JAMES STUART, EARL OF (c. 1531-1570)
- MURRAY (or MORAY), SIR ROBERT (c. 1600-1673)
- MURRAY, ALEXANDER STUART (1841-1904)
- MURRAY, DAVID (1849– )
- MURRAY, EUSTACE CLARE GRENVILLE (1824–1881)
- MURRAY, JAMES (c. 1719-1794)
- MURRAY, JOHN
- MURRAY, JOHN (1778–1820)
- MURRAY, LINDLEY (1745–1826)
- MURRAY, LORD GEORGE (1694–1760)
- MURRAY, SIR JAMES AUGUSTUS HENRY (1837– )
- MURRAY, SIR JOHN (1841– )
Murray's See also:Family Library; but it was not until 1855 that he was able to issue the much See also:fuller See also:Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, a work which embodied the results of more than twenty years' patient investigation of See also:original See also:manuscripts and all other available See also:sources.
Brewster's relations as editor brought him into frequent communication with the most eminent scientific men, and he was naturally among the first to recognize the benefit that would accrue from regular intercourse among workers in the field of science. In an See also:article in the Quarterly Review he threw out a See also:suggestion for " an association of our See also:nobility, See also:clergy, gentry and philosophers," which was taken up by others and found speedy realization in the British Association for the See also:Advancement of
In ferment- [ Invertase See also:ing wort and Glucase . yeast. Zymase .
Iv. rq
Science.
Its first See also:- MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)
meeting was held at See also:York in 1831; and Brewster, along with Charles See also:Babbage and Sir See also:John F. W. See also:Herschel, had the chief part in shaping its constitution. In the same year in which the British Association held its first meeting, Brewster received the See also:honour of See also:knighthood and the decoration of the Guelphie See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
order of See also:Hanover. In 1838 he was appointed See also:principal of the See also:united colleges of St Salvator and St Leonard, St See also:Andrews. In 1849 he acted as See also:president of the British Association and was elected one of the eight See also:foreign associates of the See also:Institute of France in See also:succession to J. J. See also:Berzelius; and ten years later he accepted the See also:- OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")
office of principal of the university of Edinburgh, the duties of which he discharged until within a few months of his See also:death, which took place at Allerly, See also:Melrose, on the loth of See also:February 1868.
In estimating Brewster's place among scientific discoverers the chief thing to be See also:borne in mind is that the See also:bent of his See also:genius was not characteristically mathematical. His method was empirical, and the laws which he established were generally the result of repeated experiment. To the ultimate explanation of the phenomena with which he dealt he contributed nothing, and it is noteworthy in this connexion that if he did not maintain to the end of his life the corpuscular theory he never explicitly adopted the undulatory theory of light. Few will be inclined to dispute the See also:verdict of Forbes:—" His scientific See also:glory is different in See also:kind from that of See also:Young and Fresnel; but the discoverer of the See also:law of polarization of biaxial crystals, of optical See also:mineralogy, and of double refraction by See also:compression, will always occupy a foremost See also:rank in the intellectual See also:history of the age." In addition to the various works of Brewster already noticed, the following may be mentioned:—Notes and Introduction to See also:Carlyle's See also:translation of See also:Legendre's Elements of See also:Geometry (1824); See also:Treatise on Optics (1831); Letters on Natural Magic, addressed to Sir Walter Scott (1831); The Martyrs of Science, or the Lives of Galileo, Tycho See also:Brahe, and See also:Kepler (1841); More Worlds` than One (1854).
See The See also:Home Life of Sir David Brewster, by his daughter Mrs See also:Gordon.
End of Article: BREWSTER, SIR DAVID (1781–1868)
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