Henry Pemberton (1694 – 9 March 1771) was an English physician and man of letters. He became
Gresham Professor of Physic
The Professor of Physic (the term for medicine at the time the post was created in 1597) at Gresham College in London, England, gives free educational lectures to the general public on medicine, health and related sciences. The college was founded ...
, and edited the third edition of ''
Principia Mathematica''.
Life
Born in London, he received a general education in England, then went to
Leyden University in August 1714. There he studied medicine under
Herman Boerhaave, and read mathematical authors. From Leyden he passed to Paris to study anatomy, and bought a collection of mathematical works at the sale of the library of the Abbé
Jean Gallois. He returned to London to attend
St. Thomas's Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Fo ...
, but went back to Leyden in 1719 as the guest of Boerhaave, and graduated M.D. on 27 December of that year.
On his settling in London, Pemberton did not practise much, because of delicate health. He was, however, a writer on medical and general subjects. He became a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
, and contributed papers to its ''
Philosophical Transactions
''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society'' is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society. In its earliest days, it was a private venture of the Royal Society's secretary. It was established in 1665, making it the first journa ...
'' (vols. xxxii.–lxii.). One of these, a demonstration of the inefficiency in an attempted proof by
Giovanni Poleni
Giovanni Poleni (b. Venice, around 1683; d. Padua, Nov., 1761) was a Marquess, physicist, mathematician and antiquarian.
Early life
He was the son of Marquess Jacopo Poleni and studied the classics, philosophy, theology, mathematics, and physics ...
, of
Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm (von) Leibniz . ( – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat. He is one of the most prominent figures in both the history of philosophy and the history of mathema ...
's assertion that the force of descending bodies is proportional to the square of their velocity, was transmitted to
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the grea ...
by
Richard Mead
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
, and gained for Pemberton Newton's friendship. Newton brought him a refutation by himself based on other principles. This was afterwards printed as a postscript to Pemberton's paper. Pemberton saw much of Newton in his old age.
On 24 May 1728 he was appointed Gresham professor of physic in succession to
John Woodward John Woodward or ''variant'', may refer to:
Sports
*John Woodward (English footballer) (born 1947), former footballer
*John Woodward (Scottish footballer) (born 1949), former footballer
*Johnny Woodward (1924–2002), English footballer
*John D ...
. For seven years (1739–1746) he was chiefly employed in the preparation of the fifth ''London Pharmacopœia'' for the
Royal College of Physicians; he performed all the chemical and pharmaceutical experiments. The work was published in 1746 as ''Translation and Improvement of the London Dispensatory'', and he received from the college a gift of the copyright and a hundred guineas above the expenses incurred. Pemberton died on 9 March 1771.
Works
Pemberton was employed by Newton to superintend the third edition of the ‘Principia.’ The new edition, which appeared in 1726, had a preface by Newton, in which Pemberton is characterised as ‘vir harum rerum peritissimus.’ In 1728 he published ‘A View of Sir I. Newton's Philosophy.’ It is dedicated to
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...
, and is preceded by a preface containing the writer's recollections of the philosopher. A German translation of pt. i. of the ‘View,’ by
Salomon Maimon, appeared at Berlin in 1793. Pemberton's book was not remunerative, and was regarded as disappointing;
George Lewis Scott, however, recommended it to
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is k ...
.
In 1724 Pemberton assisted Mead in editing
William Cowper's ''Myotomia Reformata''. His ‘Scheme for a course of Chymistry to be performed at Gresham College’ appeared in 1731. Two courses of his lectures were published by his friend James Wilson—the first, in 1771, on chemistry; the second, in 1779, after Pemberton's death, on physiology.
In addition to these and some treatises left in manuscript, Pemberton wrote:
* ‘Dissertatio Physico-Medicinalis Inaug. de Facultate Oculi ad diversas Rerum Computatarum Distantias se accommodante,’ Leyden, 1719.
* ‘Epist. ad Amicum
iz. J. Wilsonde Rogeri Cotesii Inventis,’ 1722 (showing how
Roger Cotes's theorems by ratios and logarithms may be done by circle and hyperbola).
* ‘Observations on Poetry, occasioned by
Glover's "Leonidas,"’ 1738.
His ''Account of the Ancient Ode'' prefaces
Gilbert West
Gilbert West (1703–1756) was a minor English poet, translator, and theologian in the early and middle eighteenth century. Samuel Johnson included him in his ''Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets''.
Biography
The son of Richard West, he was ...
's ''Pindar'', and a paper ''On the Dispute about Fluxions'' is in the second volume of
Benjamin Robins
Benjamin Robins (170729 July 1751) was a pioneering British scientist, Newtonian mathematician, and military engineer.
He wrote an influential treatise on gunnery, for the first time introducing Newtonian science to military men, was an early en ...
's ‘Works.’
File:Pemberton-1.jpg, 1728 copy of Pemberton's ''A view of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy''
File:Pemberton-2.jpg, Title page to ''A view of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy''
File:Pemberton-3.jpg, Dedication to ''A view of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy'', to Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader ...
File:Pemberton-4.jpg, Preface to ''A view of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy''
File:Pemberton-6.jpg, First page to ''A view of Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy''
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pemberton, Henry
1694 births
1771 deaths
18th-century English medical doctors
English writers
Fellows of the Royal Society
Leiden University alumni
Professors of Gresham College
18th-century English male writers