William Farish (1759–1837) was a British scientist who was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and

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 ...

at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, known for the development of the method of

isometric projection Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings. It is an axonometric projection in which the three coordinate axes appear equally foreshortened and ...

and development of the first written university examination.

Biography

Farish was probably born around mid-April, as he was baptized on 21 April 1759. Farish's father was the Reverend James Farish (1714–1783), vicar of Stanwix near Carlisle. Farish himself was educated at Carlisle

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

, entered

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, as a

sizar At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is an undergraduate who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined jo ...

in 1774, and graduated

Senior Wrangler The Senior Frog Wrangler is the top mathematics undergraduate at the University of Cambridge in England, a position which has been described as "the greatest intellectual achievement attainable in Britain." Specifically, it is the person who a ...

and first in

Smith's Prize The Smith's Prize was the name of each of two prizes awarded annually to two research students in mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1769. Following the reorganization in 1998, they are now awarded under the n ...

in 1778. As

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in co ...

in 1792, Farish developed the

concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...

of grading

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

s' work quantitatively. He was

Professor of Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, properties, ...

at Cambridge from 1794 to 1813, lecturing on chemistry's practical application. Farish's lectures as professor of chemistry, which were oriented towards

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 ...

while the professor of natural and experimental philosophy F. J. H. Wollaston (1762–1828) gave very chemically oriented lectures. From 1813 to 1837 Farish was

Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy The Jacksonian Professorship of Natural Philosophy is one of the senior chairs in natural philosophy, Natural and Experimental philosophy at University of Cambridge, Cambridge University, and was founded in 1782 by a bequest from the Reverend R ...

. In 1819 Professor Farish became the first president of the

Cambridge Philosophical Society The Cambridge Philosophical Society (CPS) is a scientific society at the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1819. The name derives from the medieval use of the word philosophy to denote any research undertaken outside the fields of law ...

. Farish was also Vicar of St Giles' and

St Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

from 1800 to 1837. He extensively remodelled

St Giles' Church, Cambridge The Church of St Giles is a Grade II*-listed church in Cambridge, England. It is a Church of England parish church in the Parish of the Ascension of the Diocese of Ely, located on the junction of Castle Street and Chesterton Road. It was compl ...

, increasing the accommodation from 100 to 600 seats.

Work

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, according to Hilkens (1967), Farish was "the first man to teach the construction of machines as a subject in its own right instead of merely using mechanisms as examples to illustrate the principles of theoretical physics or applied mathematics." He further became "famous for his work in applying chemistry and mechanical science to arts and manufactures".

Isometric projection

In his lectures on the mechanical principles of machinery used in

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

industries, Farish often used

models A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure. Models c ...

to illustrated particular principles. This models were often especially assembled for these lectures and disassembled for storage afterwards. In order to explain how these models were to be assembled he had developed a drawing technique, which he called "Isometrical Perspective". Although the concept of an isometric had existed in a rough way for centuries, William Farish is generally regarded as the first to provide rules for isometric drawing.Barclay G. Jones (1986). ''Protecting historic architecture and museum collections from natural disasters''. University of Michigan. . p.243. In the 1822 paper "On Isometrical Perspective" Farish recognized the "need for accurate technical working drawings free of optical distortion. This would lead him to formulate isometry. Isometry means "equal measures" because the same scale is used for height, width, and depth".J. Krikke (1996).
A Chinese perspective for cyberspace?
. In: ''International Institute for Asian Studies Newsletter'', 9, Summer 1996. From the middle of the 19th century, according to Jan Krikke (2006) isometry became an "invaluable tool for engineers, and soon thereafter axonometry and isometry were incorporated in the curriculum of architectural training courses in Europe and the U.S. The popular acceptance of axonometry came in the 1920s, when modernist architects from the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

and

De Stijl ''De Stijl'' (; ), Dutch for "The Style", also known as Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden. De Stijl consisted of artists and architects. In a more narrow sense, the term ''De Stijl'' is used to refer to a body o ...

embraced it". De Stijl architects like

Theo van Doesburg Theo van Doesburg (, 30 August 1883 – 7 March 1931) was a Dutch artist, who practiced painting, writing, poetry and architecture. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl. He was married to artist, pianist and choreographer Nelly ...

used "axonometry for their architectural designs, which caused a sensation when exhibited in Paris in 1923".

Works

* 1796. ''A plan of a course of lectures on arts and manufactures : more particularly such as relate to chemistry''. * 1822. "On Isometrical Perspective". In: ''Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society'', 1 * 1849. ''Professor Farish on Isometrical Drawing''. J.P. Pirsson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farish, William 1759 births 1837 deaths People educated at Carlisle Grammar School Jacksonian Professors of Natural Philosophy Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Examinations Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge English chemists Senior Wranglers Information visualization experts Professors of chemistry (Cambridge, 1702)