Richard de Villamil facts for kids
Richard de Villamil (born 1850, died 1936) was a British Army officer and a scientist who loved physics. He is well-known for writing a book about the famous scientist Isaac Newton.
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Who Was Richard de Villamil?
Richard de Villamil had both English and Spanish family roots. His father, Martin de Villamil, owned a large piece of land in Kingston, Jamaica.
His Time in the Army
Richard de Villamil went to the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. This was a special school for training army officers. In 1869, he won a top award called the Pollock Medal.
After his training, he became an officer in the Royal Engineers. This group of soldiers builds things like bridges and forts. He served in India during the 1870s. Later, he was sent to Cork in Ireland. In 1886, he went to Jamaica for four years. While there, he helped build an important fort called the Victoria Battery at Port Royal. He left the army in 1896, holding the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
His Love for Science
Even after his military career, Richard de Villamil continued his passion for science. In 1902, he became a member of the Royal Institution, a famous place for scientific research and education.
He was very interested in Isaac Newton, one of the most important scientists in history. In 1927, de Villamil wrote an article called The Tragedy of Sir Isaac Newton's Library for a magazine called Bookman.
Newton's personal library had been kept safe by a family for many years, but nobody realized how important it was. In 1920, many of Newton's books were sold very cheaply, and some were even destroyed! After de Villamil's article was published, he visited the family's home. He was able to find and identify 860 books that had belonged to Isaac Newton.
De Villamil also found a detailed list of everything Newton owned when he died. This list was so complete that de Villamil said it could help someone imagine every room in Newton's house exactly as it was. He included this amazing list in his book about Newton, called Newton, The Man. This book was published in 1931 and even had a special introduction written by another famous scientist, Albert Einstein.
Books by Richard de Villamil
Richard de Villamil wrote several books about science and physics:
- ABC of Hydrodynamics (1912)
- The Laws of Avanzini. Laws of planes moving at an angle in air and water (1912)
- Motion of Liquids (1914)
- Resistance of air (1917)
- Soaring flight: a simple mechanical solution of the problem (1920)
- Rational Mechanics (1928)
- Newton: the Man ... Foreword by Professor Albert Einstein. (1931)
