Francis John Hyde Wollaston (13 April 1762,

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 ...

– 12 October 1823) was an English

natural philosopher Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the developme ...

and Jacksonian Professor at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

Life

Francis John Hyde Wollaston was the son of Francis Wollaston (1731–1815) and Althea Hyde, and brother to

William Hyde Wollaston William Hyde Wollaston (; 6 August 1766 – 22 December 1828) was an English chemist and physicist who is famous for discovering the chemical elements palladium and rhodium. He also developed a way to process platinum ore into malleable i ...

(1766-1828). He was educated in Scarning,

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and at Charterhouse before entering

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (historically known as "Sussex College" and today referred to informally as "Sidney") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1 ...

in 1779. He graduated as

senior wrangler The Senior 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 achiev ...

in 1783, became a fellow of Trinity Hall in 1785, and was ordained a priest in 1787. Wollaston was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1786. From 1792 to 1813, he was a Jacksonian Professor at Cambridge. Resigning his Trinity Hall fellowship to marry Frances Hayles in 1793, he became Rector of South Weald the following year. In 1807, he was elected Master of Sidney Sussex College, but the election was declared invalid on the grounds that he had never been a fellow of Sidney Sussex. On resigning his professorship in 1813, he assumed additional clerical duties: from 1813 to 1823 he was rector of Cold Norton and Archdeacon of Essex. He is buried with his father in St Nicholas's Churchyard in

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater ...

Works

*''A Plan of a Course of Chemical Lectures'', 1794 *''Charge, delivered to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Essex'', 1815

References

External links

Archdeacons of Essex Jacksonian Professors of Natural Philosophy Fellows of the Royal Society 1762 births 1823 deaths Senior Wranglers People educated at Charterhouse School Fellows of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Masters of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Natural philosophers {{England-scientist-stub