James Six FRS (1731 – 25 August 1793) was a British scientist born in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

. He is noted for his invention, in 1780, of

Six's thermometer Six's maximum and minimum thermometer is a registering thermometer that can record the maximum and minimum temperatures reached over a period of time, for example 24 hours. It is used to record the extremes of temperature at a location, for inst ...

, commonly known as the maximum- minimum thermometer. This device is still in common use today and widely sold in garden centres.

Life

Six was from a family of refugees from the Continent who had settled in England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and who had worked as silk weavers for generations. James Six himself had trained in the family business, but by his time this was in decline because of cheap imported silks from India and Persia. He became interested in

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior throu ...

, and devoted himself to

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

and

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

. In 1782 The

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

of London published an account of the thermometer that Six had invented two years earlier. In 1784, Six was elected a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in Philadelphia. 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 ...

in 1792, his election was the result of this and other papers he had published on meteorology. In 1783 he performed a number of thermometrical measurements on Canterbury cathedral in conjunction with Sir John Cullum, who wrote about them for ''

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 ...

'' in ''“Account of extraordinary Frost, 23 June 1783”'', (''Philosophical Transactions'', lxxiv (1784)). Six wrote about his invention in his book, ''The Construction and Use of a Thermometer for Showing the Extremes of Temperature in the Atmosphere, during the Observer's Absence, together with Experiments and Variations of Local Heat; and other Meteorological Observations''. This was published posthumously in London, in 1794, a year after he died. James Six died on 25 August 1793 at the age of sixty-two. His wife Mary died on 19 March 1801 and they are buried together in a vault in Westgate Church,

References

* ''The Construction of a Thermometer by James Six'', Nimbus Publishing Ltd,1980;
James Six at the Institute and Museum of the History of Science
*
Two Hundred Years of the Six's Self-Registering Thermometer
Jillian F. Austin and Anita McConnell. ''Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London'', Vol. 35, No. 1 (Jul., 1980), pp. 49–65 (article consists of 17 pages) Published by: The Royal Society, London. (Copy at JSTOR)
British History Online
Canterbury - the churches within the city and suburbs. See section on Westgate Church. Accessed May 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Six, James 1731 births 1793 deaths People from Canterbury English meteorologists English inventors Fellows of the Royal Society