A Course Of Lectures In Natural Philosophy
by Richard Helsham
Richard Helsham (1683–1738), physician and natural philosopher, was born outside of Kilkenny, in Southern Ireland. After attending the University in his hometown, Helsham left to advance his education, eventually receiving a medical degree and a formal appointment at Trinity College, Dublin. Here,as the college's first professor of natural philosophy,[1] he worked for eight years to create one of the first ever institutionalized science laboratories and courses of study.[2]
Inspired by Descartes, and more directly Newton, Helsham's A Course of Lectures in Natural Philosophy covered a broad range of topics on physics and was prefaced with a discussion on the nature of causation and experimentation in the sciences.[3] Edited posthumously by Bryan Robinson, a former student and colleague, "it was one of the earliest textbooks to present the scientific discoveries of Bacon, Descartes, Boyle, and Newton to university students in an understandable manner."[4] The volume is divided into twenty-three chapters which discuss the physics of light, color, sound, motion, friction, and simple machines such as pulleys and levers.[5] "The book had an enduring popularity"[6] and was well-known as one of the most comprehensive discourses on the subject of natural philosophy until years later in 1812 when the term “scientist” would enter the public vernacular and inspire a series of texts on similar subjects extending their focus into the more complex physics that would drive the industrial revolution.[7]
Bibliographic Information
Author: Richard Helsham.
Title: A Course Of Lectures In Natural Philosophy.
Published: London: Published by Bryan Robinson, printed by J. Nourse, 1739.
Edition: First edition; viii, 404 pages.
Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library
Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy
Full bound in contemporary etched calf with a red morocco spine label and compartments tooled in gold. Purchased from Black Swan Books, Inc.
Find this book in William & Mary's online catalog.
External Links
References
- ↑ H. T. Welch, "Helsham, Richard (1683–1738)’" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004- ), accessed Oct. 6, 2013. (Subscription required for access.)
- ↑ Ask About Ireland, s.v. "Helsham, Richard," accessed Oct. 5, 2013 http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/life-society/science-technology/irish-scientists/helsham-richard/.
- ↑ Richard Helsham, A Course of Lectures in Natural Philosophy, 4th ed., ed. Bryan Robinson, M.D. (London: Printed for J. Nourse, 1767).
- ↑ Welch, "Helsham, Richard."
- ↑ Helsham, A Course of Lectures in Natural Philosophy
- ↑ Welch, "Helsham, Richard."
- ↑ Laura Snyder, The Philosophical Breakfast Club (TED, 2012).
