James Ferguson (1710–1776)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

James Ferguson (25 April 1710 – 17 November 1776) was a
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
. He is known as the inventor and improver of astronomical and other scientific apparatus, as a striking instance of self education and as an itinerant lecturer.


Biography

Ferguson was born near
Rothiemay Milltown of Rothiemay (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ràth a' Mhuigh'') is a small inland village, built mostly of granite, in the north-east of Scotland and is within the Moray council area bordering neighbouring Aberdeenshire across the river to the so ...
in
Banffshire Banffshire (; ; ) is a historic county in Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. The historic county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since 1996 the area has been spli ...
of humble parents. According to his autobiography, he learned to read by hearing his father teach his elder brother, and with the help of an old woman was able to read quite well before his father thought of teaching him. After his father taught him to write, he was sent at the age of seven for three months to the grammar school at Keith and that was all the formal education he ever received. His taste for mechanics was about this time accidentally awakened on seeing his father making use of a
lever A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam (structure), beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '':wikt:fulcrum, fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, l ...
to raise a part of the roof of his house — an exhibition of strength which excited his wonder. In 1720 he was sent to a neighboring farm to keep sheep, where he amused himself by making models of machines, and at night he studied the stars. Afterwards, as a servant with a miller, and then with a doctor, he met with hardships which rendered his constitution feeble through life. Being compelled by his health to return home, he then amused himself with making a clock having wooden wheels and a
whalebone Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and ...
spring. When slightly recovered he showed this and some other inventions to a gentleman, who employed him to clean his clocks, and to make his house his home. He there began to draw patterns for needlework, and his success in this art led him to think of becoming a painter. In 1734 he went to
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, where he began to make portraits in miniature, by which means, while engaged in his scientific studies, he supported himself and his family for many years. Subsequently, he settled at
Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...
, where he drew up his ''Astronomical Rotula for showing the motions of the planets, places of the sun and moon, &c.'', and in 1743 went to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, England, which was his home for the rest of his life. He wrote various papers for the
Royal Society of London 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, r ...
, of which he became a Fellow in November 1763. He devised astronomical and mechanical models, like globes. Ferguson's globes were inspired by the early 18th Century globes of
John Senex John Senex (1678–1740) was an English cartographer, engraver and explorer. He was also an astrologer, geologist, and geographer to Queen Anne of Great Britain, editor and seller of antique maps and most importantly creator of the pocket-size ...
. Senex sold him the copper plates for his globe gores, but not the copper plates used for Senex's pocket globe gores. Consequently, Ferguson designed his own pocket globe, producing several editions. Ferguson had some Senex gores re-engraved by a certain James Mynde, showing Admiral Anson's voyages of the years 1740–1744. In 1748, Ferguson began to give public lectures on experimental philosophy, which he repeated in most of the principal towns in England. During his time traveling in England, the well known London bookseller
Andrew Millar Andrew Millar (17058 June 1768) was a British publisher in the eighteenth century. Biography In 1725, as a twenty-year-old bookseller apprentice, he evaded Edinburgh city printing restrictions by going to Leith to print, which was considered be ...
arranged lectures for him in the spa towns of
Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sand ...
and
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
. Ferguson's deep interest in his subject, his clear explanations, his ingeniously constructed diagrams, and his mechanical apparatus rendered him one of the most successful of popular lecturers on scientific subjects. As the inventor and improver of astronomical and other scientific apparatus, and as a striking instance of self education, he claims a place among the most remarkable Scottish scientists. During the latter years of his life he received a pension of £50 from the
privy purse The Privy Purse is the British sovereign's private income, mostly from the Duchy of Lancaster. This amounted to £20.1 million in net income for the year to 31 March 2018. Overview The Duchy is a landed estate of approximately 46,000 acres (20 ...
. He died in London on 17 November 1776 and was buried in St Marylebone churchyard.


Legacy

Although not as well known nowadays, Ferguson was widely influential in his own time.
Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In ...
mentioned him in his publication "The Age of Reason" and
William Herschel Frederick William Herschel ( ; ; 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover ...
studied astronomy from his books. His international reputation was such that he was elected to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
in 1770. The German experimental physicist
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (; 1 July 1742 – 24 February 1799) was a German physicist, satirist, and Anglophile. He was the first person in Germany to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics. He is remembered for his p ...
admired Ferguson: "Everything was done by experiments – he had not even chalk and sponge."


Works

Ferguson's principal publications are: * ''Astronomical Tables'' (1763) * ''Lectures on Select Subjects'' (first edition, 1760, edited by Sir
David Brewster Sir David Brewster Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order, KH President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, PRSE Fellow of the Royal Society of London, FRS Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA Scot Fellow of the Scottish Society of ...
in 1805) * ''Astronomy explained upon Sir
Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
's Principles'' (1756, edited by Sir David Brewster in 1811) * * ''Select Mechanical Exercises, with a Short Account of the Life of the Author, written by himself'' (1773). *Introduction to Electricity'' (First Edition 1770; Second Edition 1775; (1778)). His autobiography is included in the 1857 biographical dictionary of eminent ScotsmenJames Ferguson
A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, 3, edited by Robert Chambers and Thomas Napier Thomson, 1857, Blackie and Son, Glasgow and in ''Life'' by E. Henderson, LL.D. (first edition, 1867; 2nd, 1870), which also contains a full description of Ferguson's principal inventions, accompanied with illustrations. File:Ferguson-1.jpg, 1757 copy of Ferguson's ''"Astronomy Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles and Made Easy for Those Who Have Not Studied Mathematics"'' File:Ferguson-4.jpg, Table of contents for ''"Astronomy Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles and Made Easy for Those Who Have Not Studied Mathematics"'' File:Ferguson-6.jpg, Table from ''"Astronomy Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles and Made Easy for Those Who Have Not Studied Mathematics"'' File:Ferguson-7.jpg, Table from ''"Astronomy Explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles and Made Easy for Those Who Have Not Studied Mathematics"''


Further reading

* *''The Story of the Peasant-Boy Philosopher'', by Henry Mayhew (1857). * "Wheelwright of the Heavens" by John R. Millburn (In collaboration with Henry C. King) 1988. A revised biography based on Hendersons "Life" but with much additional research.


References

*


External links



*Texts by James Ferguson on the Internet Archive
see all
:
Astronomy explained upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles ...
(2nd American edition, 1809)
Select mechanical exercises: shewing how to construct different clocks, orreries, and sun-dials ...: to which is prefixed, a short account of the life of the author
(1773)
An easy introduction to astronomy for young gentlemen and ladies ...
(2nd American edition, 1812)
An introduction to electricity. In six sections ...
(3rd ed., 1778)
Lectures on select subjects in mechanics, hydrostatics, pneumatics, optics, and astronomy
(1839 ed.)
Tables and tracts, relative to several arts and sciences
(2nd ed., 1771) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, James 1710 births 1776 deaths People from Milltown of Rothiemay Scottish astronomers 18th-century British astronomers Fellows of the Royal Society People associated with Derby Museum and Art Gallery 18th-century Scottish scientists Members of the American Philosophical Society Scottish male painters Globe makers