Sir William Watson, FRS (3 April 1715 – 10 May 1787) was a British physician and scientist who was born and died in London. His early work was in

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, and he helped to introduce the work of

Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

into England. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1741 and vice president in 1772. He was knighted in 1786. In 1746, he showed that the capacity of the

Leyden jar A Leyden jar (or Leiden jar, or archaically, sometimes Kleistian jar) is an electrical component that stores a high-voltage electric charge (from an external source) between electrical conductors on the inside and outside of a glass jar. It typi ...

could be increased by coating it inside and out with lead foil. In the same year, he proposed that the two types of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

—vitreous and resinous—posited by DuFay were actually a surplus (a positive charge) and a deficiency (a negative charge) of a single fluid which he called ''electrical ether'', and that the quantity of electrical charge was conserved. He acknowledged that the same theory had been independently developed at the same time by

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading intel ...

—the two men later became allies in both scientific and political matters. He also suggested that electricity is more akin to magnetism and light than to a fluid, since it passes through glass and cloth, and can be concentrated as a spark to light up flammable materials. On 14 August 1747 he made an experiment to conduct electricity through a 6,732 foot long wire at

Shooter's Hill Shooter's Hill (or Shooters Hill) is a district in South East London within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It borders the London Borough of Bexley. It lies north of Eltham and south of Woolwich. With a height of , it is the highest point i ...

in London. At another experiment he made, the wire was 12,276 feet. Previous experiments in France had only tried shorter distances.The Electric Telegraph
''The North British Review'', vol. 22 (Feb. 1855), p. 290.

References

*
Biography of Watson
*"Watson, Sir William", ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' 2004–2005

Works

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, William 1715 births 1787 deaths 18th-century British botanists 18th-century English medical doctors Fellows of the Royal Society Knights Bachelor Writers from London Recipients of the Copley Medal 18th-century British physicists

See also

References

Works

External links