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Birth
On the twenty four day of the fifth month of the year seventeen ninety four, in Lancaster, England, a master carpenter and a newspaper published poet welcomed the birth of their son, William. -
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Early Life (Before 18 years old and before 1813)
1807) Mother's death...
before 1810) Attracts the attention of a Grandmaster at a grammar school.
1810) His father allows him to transfer to the grammar school to compete for a scholarship.
1811) Wins the scholarship with the condition that he stay at the grammar school for two more years.
by 1812) Three of his younger brothers die.
Oct. 1812) Starts his first semester at Trinity college... -
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College till 1821
1813) Obtained a Declamation Prize for an essay on Brutus and Caesar
1814) Won the Chancellor's Prize on his epic poem Boadicea
1815) Visited London for the first time
1816) Graduated from Mathematics as second Wrangler (second highest marks out of everyone graduating from mathematics that year)
July 1816) Father died
1817) Elected President of the Cambridge Union Society
1818) Appointed assistant tutor/mathematical lecturer
1820) Elected to the Royal Society
1821) His sister Elizabeth has died -
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1825 and 1828
In 1825. William Whewell studied mineralogy and crystallography with his colleagues. He released several papers on mineralogy, crediting him with contributing to the mathematical foundation of crystallography. Also in 1825, Will Whe was ordained as a priest, a requirement for all the Trinity Fellows. In 1828, he was elected as Professor of Mineralogy. -
The Invention of (the word) Scientist!
For the Cambridge meeting in 1833, upon the request of poet Coleridge, he invented the word, "scientist," by drawing analogy of the word, "artist." -
More words invented
William Whewell was working with Faraday in his discoveries in electricity. He suggested the words, "ion, anode and cathode," for him to use. -
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1838 to 1848 (He got Married)
1838) Named Professor of Moral Theology (now called moral philosophy)
1841 Oct 12) Married his wife, Cordelia Marshall
1841 Oct 12) Got a letter from a colleague saying he was planning on resigning from Master of Trinity College
1841 Oct 17) Excepted and named Master of Trinity College
1842) Named Vice-Chancellor of the University
1843) Allowed a statue of Lord Byron to be installed in the library
1848) Involved in establishing the Natural and Moral Sciences Tripos (Triposes) at the University -
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What is a widowed man? William Whewell becomes a widower.
Suffering from a long time illness, William Whewell wife, Cordelia, died on 18 December 1855. Whewell remarried in 1858 to Lady Affleck. His second wife died on 1 April 1865. His two marriages, while childless, are described as happy. -
Final lecture and Injury
The 11th of February 1866 would be Whewell last lecture. In it, he talked about themes from earlier sermons, his writing in science, and said a piece on astronomy and geology. On 24th February 1866, he went horse riding. He didn't leave the horse on a good not, as the being threw him and he ended up gravely injured. -
Death
On the 6th of March, 1866, ten days after his accident, he died from his injuries. -
Sources
Event source/picture source) https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/William_Whewell
Event source) https://lahs.archaeologyuk.org/Contrebis/28_17_Price.pdf
Event source) https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/DNB/Whewell.pdf
Picture source) https://www.azquotes.com/author/15553-William_Whewell?p=2
