Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
| Online Publication Date: 09 May 2014
William Whewell: Professor of Mineralogy [And Crystallography] Cambridge University 1828-1834
William Whewell: Professor of Mineralogy [And Crystallography] Cambridge University 1828-1834
Page Range: 1 – 9
Today philosophers, scientists, and other scholars know William Whewell as a major figure in the history and philosophy of science and as a wordsmith who coined many scientific terms still in use. Mineralogists are likely aware that there is a mineral Whewellite. Whewell entered the field of mineralogy just as it was coming of age as a science. He was a life-long academic at Trinity College, Cambridge University where he served as Professor of Mineralogy, later as Professor of Moral Philosophy, and rose to become Master of the College. His major contributions to earth science were in mathematical crystallography and tidal phenomena. Whewell's wide-ranging ideas and research qualify him as a mid-nineteenth century polymath.
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