Thomas Pigot (Pigott, Piggott) (1657–1686) was an English cleric, academic and Fellow of the Royal Society. He is known for work in

acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...

, and as a committee member for the Society's universal language project.

Life

He was born in Brindle, Lancashire. He graduated B.A. (1676) at Wadham College, Oxford, becoming Fellow there in 1677, and graduating M.A. in 1678. He was presented to the living of Yarnton in 1681, and was appointed chaplain by James Butler, Earl of Ossory. He died in Ossory's house.

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Works

Pigot as an undergraduate did research work on

: it revealed the way in which the vibrating string could have stationary nodes. The discoveries (1674) may have been jointly made, with William Noble of

Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ch ...

, and the project is thought by some to have been supervised by

John Wallis John Wallis (; la, Wallisius; ) was an English clergyman and mathematician who is given partial credit for the development of infinitesimal calculus. Between 1643 and 1689 he served as chief cryptographer for Parliament and, later, the royal ...

; in any case Wallis wrote up the results for publication (1677). It followed on from earlier work of Francis North, written up in his essay also published in 1677. The nodal points and the related discoveries on sympathetic resonance and the harmonic series were incorporated in the textbook by Wallis, ''De algebra'', in 1693. The resulting theory did not, however, amount to an account of overtones in the modern sense: the connection between vibration in "aliquot parts", and the higher harmonics, was not clarified in this period. Research was taken further by

Joseph Sauveur Joseph Sauveur (24 March 1653 – 9 July 1716) was a French mathematician and physicist. He was a professor of mathematics and in 1696 became a member of the French Academy of Sciences. Life Joseph Sauveur was born in La Flèche, the son of a ...

. Pigot was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1679, and took part in the committee discussions on linguistics. He may have been involved in these debates already by 1678, on John Aubrey's account. John Wilkins, an influential figure in the Society's founding, had died in 1672, and the project of his '' An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language'' (1668) was a legacy taken up by Fellows. Debate had started in earnest in 1676, over whether the

taxonomic scheme Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

of Wilkins for a universal language could be implemented effectively; committee members included Aubrey,

Robert Hooke Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that ...

, Francis Lodwick,

John Ray John Ray FRS (29 November 1627 – 17 January 1705) was a Christian English naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after ...

, and Andrew Paschall. Pigot was one of those who remained sceptical about progress on a universal language. But he took part in testing its potential, for example when he joined Paschall and Richard Towneley in making translations of the design by Hooke of a

watch mechanism In horology, a movement, also known as a caliber or calibre (British English), is the mechanism of a watch or timepiece, as opposed to the ''case'', which encloses and protects the movement, and the '' face'', which displays the time. The term ...

, back from Hooke's "real character" version. Pigot reported an Oxford earthquake of 1683 in the ''

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 ...

''.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pigot, Thomas 1657 births 1686 deaths 17th-century English Anglican priests English scientists Fellows of Wadham College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Society People from the Borough of Chorley