Lieutenant-Colonel Richard de Villamil (1850–1936) was a British Army officer and physicist, who wrote a biography of

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the g ...

Life

He was of English and Spanish descent. His father, Martin de Villamil owned a large property in Kingston, Jamaica.

Military career

He attended the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich where he won the

Pollock Medal The Pollock Medal is a prize awarded to the best cadet of the season, in commemoration of Sir George Pollock's exploits in Afghanistan, first at the East India Company's Military Seminary at Addiscombe, and later at the Royal Military Academy, Wool ...

in December 1869. He became an officer in the Royal Engineers, serving in India during the 1870s,. He was later posted to

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

in Ireland, and then, in 1886, to Jamaica, where he spent four years, during which time he built the Victoria Battery at

Port Royal Port Royal is a village located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest city in the Caribbean, functioning as the centre of shipping an ...

. He retired from the army in 1896 with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.

Scientific interests

He was elected a member of the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

in 1902. In 1927 he wrote an article in the '' Bookman'', entitled ''The Tragedy of Sir Isaac Newton's Library''. Newton's library had remained intact, but unrecognised, in the possession of the Wykeham-Musgrave family of Barnsley Park until 1920. In that year much of it had been sold, with no realisation of its significance, at a low price, and many volumes pulped. However, some purchasers discovered that their books had been Newton's. Following the publication of his article, de Villamil visited Barnsley Park and identified 860 books as having belonged to the scientist. He had previously also traced an inventory of Newton's estate at the time of his death in the records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, which were kept at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ( ...

. de Villamil described the list as "so complete and so detailed that we could easily re-furnish every room in Newton's house (if it still existed) as it was at the time of his death". He included it in his biography ''Newton, The Man'', which was published in 1931 with a preface by

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

Writings

*''ABC of Hydrodynamics'' (E & FN Spon, 1912) *''The Laws of Avanzini. Laws of planes moving at an angle in air and water'' (1912) *''Motion of Liquids'' (E & FN Spon, 1914) *''Resistance of air ''(1917) *''Soaring flight: a simple mechanical solution of the problem'' (1920) *''Rational Mechanics'' (E & FN Spon, 1928) *''Newton: the Man ... Foreword by Professor Albert Einstein''. (Gordon D Knox. Publication c1931) ith "Catalogue of the Library of Dr. James Musgrave ... amongst which are included the books in Newton's Library", and "Supplementary List of Sir Isaac Newton's Books". (1931)

References

External links

Project of reconstitution of the house of Isaac Newton thanks to the manuscript discovered by Richard de Villamil
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villamil, Richard De 1850 births 1936 deaths English scientists Royal Engineers officers