John Gough ( ; 17 January 1757 – 28 July 1825) was a blind English natural and experimental philosopher who is known for his own investigations as well as the influence he had on both
John Dalton
John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He is best known for introducing the atomic theory into chemistry, and for his research into colour blindness, which he had. Colour b ...
and
William Whewell
William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved dist ...
.
Life
John Gough was born in
Kendal
Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England, south-east of Windermere and north of Lancaster. Historically in Westmorland, it lies within the dale of th ...
,
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
, on 17 January 1757, the eldest child of Nathan Gough (d. 1800) and his wife, Susannah (1731–1798). Gough's father was a wool dyer and shearman dyer, while his mother was the eldest daughter of John Wilson, a prosperous farmer with an estate on the west bank of
Windermere
Windermere (sometimes tautology (language), tautologically called Windermere Lake to distinguish it from the nearby town of Windermere, Cumbria (town), Windermere) is the largest natural lake in England. More than 11 miles (18 km) in leng ...
. Nathan and Susannah Gough had three sons and four daughters, one of whom died in infancy. The family belonged to the
Society of Friends
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
, whose communities flourished in
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
and
Westmorland
Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...
during this period. Before he was three years old, Gough was attacked by
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
and lost his sight. In his childhood he expended much effort in developing his sense of touch and hearing, and appears to have been especially eager to learn to recognize animals by touch.
In 1778 at the age of twenty-one, Gough became a resident pupil of John Slee, a mathematical master at
Mungrisdale
Mungrisdale is a small village and civil parish in the north east of the English Lake District in Cumbria. It is also the name of the valley in which the village sits.
Mungrisdale is a popular starting point for ascents of the nearby hills, su ...
,
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...
. Gough stayed at Mungrisdale for eighteen months, following the traditional curriculum up to the elementary principles of calculus. Returning home he took up calculus, with his second sister, Dorothy Gough (b. 1768), acting as his reader. From around 1782 to 1790 he enjoyed the acquaintance of
John Dalton
John Dalton (; 5 or 6 September 1766 – 27 July 1844) was an English chemist, physicist and meteorologist. He is best known for introducing the atomic theory into chemistry, and for his research into colour blindness, which he had. Colour b ...
, a cousin of George Bewley and also a lakeland
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
, who had come to Kendal to take up a position in Bewley's school. Dalton assisted Gough by reading, writing, and making calculations and diagrams on his behalf. In return Dalton, who later became one of the most eminent figures in nineteenth-century science, was tutored by Gough in Latin and Greek. Dalton later referred to Gough as a "prodigy in scientific attainments."
In 1800 at the parish church of Kendal, Gough married Mary (d. 1858), daughter of Thomas Harrison of Crosthwaite, Cumberland. On their marriage they moved to
Middleshaw in the hamlet of
Old Hutton
Old Hutton is a village in South Lakeland, Cumbria, England. It is in the civil parish of Old Hutton and Holmescales In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 357, increasing at the 2011 census to 417.
The parish church, dedicated to ...
. John and Mary Gough had nine children, one of whom, Thomas Gough (18041880) became a surgeon in Kendal.
In 1812 Gough had a house, which he named Fowl Ing, built for himself and his family on the south-west slope of Benson Knot, a hill 2 miles north-east of Kendal. At about the same time he began to act as a private tutor of mathematics to a select group of pupils from northern England, whom he prepared for university. The subsequent fame of his students superseded his own celebrity. A number of them went on to achieve high distinction in the mathematical
tripos
At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...
, and subsequently in the hierarchies of university and church. One of Gough's first students was
William Whewell
William Whewell ( ; 24 May 17946 March 1866) was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian, and historian of science. He was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. In his time as a student there, he achieved dist ...
, who was with him in 1812 and later described Gough as "a very extraordinary person."
From 1823, John Gough suffered repeated attacks of epilepsy. He died on 28 July 1825, leaving his wife and seven of their children. He was buried in the parish churchyard of Kendal.
Career
Gough had wide-ranging scientific interests. He published papers in natural history, mechanics, mathematics, chemistry, and experimental physics.
One of his most interesting pieces of work was an investigation into the properties of
natural rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
or
Caoutchouc
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
. He was the first to describe the heat released when a rubber band is quickly stretched, the heat being detected by the lips to which the band is pressed. When stretched rubber is heated, it contracts, a reversal of the normal behaviour of materials when heated. Gough published these results, and others, in a letter to the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society
The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, popularly known as the Lit. & Phil., is one of the oldest learned societies in the United Kingdom and second oldest provincial learned society (after the Spalding Gentlemen's Society).
Promine ...
in 1804. King has written that through Dalton, Gough exerted an indirect influence years later on
James Joule
James Prescott Joule (; 24 December 1818 11 October 1889) was an English physicist, mathematician and brewer, born in Salford, Lancashire. Joule studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work (see energy). T ...
, who undertook his own investigations into rubber, elasticity, and energy changes, and specifically referred to Gough's earlier studies.
The effect eventually became known as the
Gough–Joule effect The Gough–Joule effect (a.k.a. Gow–Joule effect) is originally the tendency of elastomers to contract when heated if they are under tension. Elastomers that are not under tension do not see this effect. The term is also used more generally to re ...
.
Gough's most substantive enquiry was "An investigation of the method whereby men judge by the ear of the position of sonorous bodies relative to their own persons", which appeared in 1802 during an ongoing controversy with another former Quaker, the noted natural philosopher
Thomas Young, over the nature of
compound sounds
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive stru ...
.
Among his works in the natural sciences, he carried out experiments with plants. He had developed the skill of using his upper lip to identify plants by touch, and reported the
hydrosere
A hydrosere is a plant succession which occurs in an area of fresh water such as in oxbow lakes and kettle lakes. In time, an area of open freshwater will naturally dry out, ultimately becoming woodland. During this change, a range of different lan ...
succession as freshwater lakes dry out and become land. He also described seed banks in soils.
References
Further reading
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External links
Gough on the thermodynamics of rubber
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gough (Natural Philosopher), John
1757 births
1825 deaths
English Quakers
18th-century English scientists
Philosophers of science
English philosophers
English mathematicians
Blind people from England
People from Kendal