David Brewster facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sir David Brewster
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 11 December 1781 Canongate, Jedburgh, Roxburghshire
|
| Died | 10 February 1868 (aged 86) Allerly House, Gattonside, Roxburghshire
|
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Citizenship | Great Britain |
| Alma mater | Edinburgh University |
| Known for | Physical optics, Brewster's angle, photoelasticity, stereoscope, kaleidoscope |
| Awards | Copley Medal (1815) Rumford Medal (1818) Keith Prize (1827–9, 1829–31) Royal Medal (1830) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics, mathematics, astronomy |
| Influences | Isaac Newton, Étienne-Louis Malus |
| Influenced | James David Forbes |
| Notes | |
|
Founding Director of the Scottish Society of Arts (1821)
Principal of St Andrews University (1837–59) Principal of Edinburgh University (1859–68) |
|
Sir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA(Scot) FSSA MICE (11 December 1781 – 10 February 1868) was a Scottish scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator.
Contents
Early life
David Brewster was born at the Canongate in Jedburgh, Roxburghshire, to Margaret Key (1753–1790) and James Brewster (c. 1735–1815), the rector of Jedburgh Grammar School and a teacher of high reputation.
David was the third of six children, two daughters and four sons: James (1777–1847), minister at Craig, Ferryden; David; George (1784–1855), minister at Scoonie, Fife; and Patrick (1788–1859), minister at the abbey church, Paisley.
At the age of 12, David was sent to the University of Edinburgh (graduating MA in 1800), with the intention of being a minister. He was licensed a minister of the Church of Scotland, and preached around Edinburgh on several occasions.
He had already shown a strong inclination for natural science.
Career
In science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optics, mostly concerned with the study of the polarization of light and including the discovery of Brewster's angle.
A pioneer in photography, Brewster invented an improved stereoscope, which he called "lenticular stereoscope" and which became the first portable 3D-viewing device. He also invented the binocular camera, two types of polarimeters, the polyzonal lens and the lighthouse illuminator.
Among the non-scientific public, his fame spread more effectually by his invention in about 1815 of the kaleidoscope, for which there was a great demand in both the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.
As a historian of science, Brewster focused on the life and work of his hero, Isaac Newton. Brewster published a detailed biography of Newton in 1831 and later became the first scientific historian to examine many of the papers in Newton's Nachlass.
Although Brewster's own discoveries were important, they were not his only service to science. He began writing in 1799 as a regular contributor to the Edinburgh Magazine, of which he acted as editor 1802–1803 at the age of twenty. In 1807, he undertook the editorship of the newly projected Edinburgh Encyclopædia, of which the first part appeared in 1808, and the last not until 1830. The work was strongest in the scientific department, and many of its most valuable articles were from the pen of the editor. At a later period he was one of the leading contributors to the Encyclopædia Britannica (seventh and eighth editions) writing, among others, the articles on electricity, hydrodynamics, magnetism, microscope, optics, stereoscope, and voltaic electricity. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1816.
In 1819 Brewster undertook further editorial work by establishing, in conjunction with Robert Jameson (1774–1854), the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, which took the place of the Edinburgh Magazine. The first ten volumes (1819–1824) were published under the joint editorship of Brewster and Jameson, the remaining four volumes (1825–1826) being edited by Jameson alone. After parting company with Jameson, Brewster started the Edinburgh Journal of Science in 1824, 16 volumes of which appeared under his editorship during the years 1824–1832, with very many articles from his own pen.
Family
Brewster married twice. His first wife, Juliet Macpherson (c. 1776–1850), was a daughter of James Macpherson (1736–1796), a probable translator of Ossian poems. They married on 31 July 1810 in Edinburgh and had four sons and a daughter:
- James (1812–)
- Charles Macpherson (1813–1828), drowned.
- David Edward Brewster (17 August 1815 –) became a military officer (Lieutenant Colonel) serving in India.
- Henry Craigie (1816–1905) became a military officer and photographer.
- Margaret Maria Gordon (1823–1907) wrote a book on Brewster, which is considered the most comprehensive description of his life.
Brewster married a second time in Nice, on 26 (or 27) March 1857, to Jane Kirk Purnell (b. 1827), the second daughter of Thomas Purnell of Scarborough. Lady Brewster famously fainted at the Oxford evolution debate of 30 June 1860.
Brewster died in 1868, and was buried at Melrose Abbey, next to his first wife and second son. The physics building at Heriot-Watt University is named in his honour.
Images for kids
-
Treatise on new philosophical instruments for various purposes in the arts and sciences, 1813
See also
In Spanish: David Brewster para niños
