Young, Thomas, 1773-1829 (physician, physicist and egyptologist)
Dates
- Existence: 1773 - 1829
Biography
Thomas Young was born in Milverton, Somerset, 13 June 1773. He studied medicine at London and Edinburgh, 1792-4, and physics at Göttingen, 1795-7. He was a fellow commoner at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1797-9. He practised as a physician in London and conducted research into the eye, identifying the cause of astigmatism and publishing a three colour theory of perception. He was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution, 1801-3, and Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society, 1802-29. He carried out experiments on the diffraction of light and established a principle of interference that supported a wave rather than a corpuscular theory of light. He also worked on surface tension, elasticity and a scientific definition of energy. He married Eliza Maxwell, 1804. He retired from medical practice, 1814, and devoted himself to his research. He became interested in Egyptology and worked on deciphering the Rosetta Stone. He founded an Egyptian Society to publish hieroglyphic inscriptions, 1819, and later turned to the study of Demotic, 1827. He died in London, 10 May 1829.
Found in 333 Collections and/or Records:
Robert Torrens on finding the longitude by celestial altitudes, 1828-07-22
Letter from John Croker to Dr Thomas Young concerning a letter from Torrens; with a draft reply to Torrens from Young.
Short paper and letter from John Carr, 1825-12-14
Sent to Dr Thomas Young
Stubs from Dr Young's cheque book, 1819 - 1823
Papers regarding payments for work done on behalf of the Board, including some miscellaneous receipts.
Superintendence of the Nautical Almanac after Dr Thomas Young's death, 1829-10-22
Thomas Young: Correspondence and papers
Letter from M.A. Nicholson about engravings of inscriptions in the British Museum, London, 11 Sept 1818 with 2 engravings of a hieratic manuscript in the possession of the Earl of Mountnorris. They were found among the papers of George Airy and the versof one of the engravings is addressed to Airy, 4 Oct. 1827.
W.A. Warre's description of an instrument for taking altitudes without using the horizon, 1825-04-06
Correspondence regarding miscellaneous schemes and inventions.
W.B. McLeroth on the mariner's compass, 1815 - 1820
Correspondence regarding the effect of magnetic variation on the mariner's compass, the use of magnetic variation to establish longitude and the cause of magnetic variation.
'Young's Notes on Dispersion of Crystalline &c', 1799 - 1910
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