Baxter, Andrew (1686/7–1750), natural philosopher and metaphysician, was born at Old Aberdeen, the son of a merchant and his wife, Elizabeth Frazer. Baxter studied at King's College, Aberdeen, from 1699 to 1703, and in 1719 was employed by the Hays of Drumelzier, whom he subsequently served in various capacities. While residing with the ...
Article
Bohm, David Joseph (1917–1992), physicist and philosopher, was born on 20 December 1917 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, USA, the son of Samuel Bohm, proprietor of a furniture store, and his wife, Freda. Both parents were immigrants from Europe, his father being born in the ...
Image
Maker: unknown artist
Article
I. Grattan-Guinness
Boole, George (1815–1864), mathematician and logician, was born on 2 November 1815 in Lincoln, the eldest of four children of a local tradesman, John Boole (1777–1848), shoemaker, and his wife, Mary Ann Joyce (1777–1854). He adopted a love of learning from his father, who was active in the local mechanics' institute, to such an extent that in his teens he was employed as a teacher at schools in ...
Article
Isobel Falconer
Campbell, Norman Robert (1880–1949), physicist and philosopher, was born on 7 March 1880 at 19 Westbourne Terrace, Kensington, London, the third son of William Middleton Campbell of Camis-Esken, Helensburgh, Dunbartonshire, a sugar merchant, and his wife, Edith Agneta Bevan. He was educated at ...
Article
Thompson Cooper
revised by Anita McConnell
Cheyne, James (c. 1545–1602), teacher of philosophy and mathematics, was born about 1545, the second son of John Cheyne (d. 1547), laird of Arnage in Aberdeenshire, and his wife, Janet (also known as Christian) Fraser, daughter of the laird of Durres. He was a student of grammar and philosophy at the ...
Image
Article
Frank A. J. L. James
Christie, Samuel Hunter (1784–1865), experimental philosopher and scientific administrator, was born on 22 March 1784, the son of James Christie (c.1739–1825), tailor, and his wife, Sarah Margaret Pomroy (c.1737–1813). From a very early age Christie displayed great mathematical ability, and he was first educated at the school in ...
Image
Article
William J. Astore
Dick, Thomas (1774–1857), writer on science and philosopher, was born on 24 November 1774 in the Hilltown of Dundee, the youngest of three children of Mungo Dick and Margaret Stroak. His father was a handloom weaver of moderate means who served as treasurer for the ...
Article
A. B. Mitchell
revised
Drysdale, Charles Vickery (1874–1961), electrical engineer and social philosopher, was born in Paris, France, on 8 July 1874, the eldest son of Charles Robert Drysdale (1828/9–1907) [see under Drysdale, George (1824-1904)] and Alice Drysdale Vickery (1844–1929), both physicians. Although eventually becoming senior physician to the ...
Article
Good, Irving John [Jack] (1916–2009), statistician and applied philosopher, was born Isidore Jacob Gudak at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Hammersmith, London, on 9 December 1916, the son of Morris Edward Gudak, later Morris Edward Good (1885–1958), a watchmaker, master jeweller, and author (as Moshe Oved...
Article
Heytesbury, William (d. 1372/3), logician and natural philosopher, was probably born in Wiltshire. He was educated at Oxford, and was a fellow of Merton College in 1330. He was active in college life: in 1337 or 1338, for instance, he travelled with a colleague from ...
Article
Huxley, Sir Julian Sorell (1887–1975), zoologist and philosopher, was born on 22 June 1887 at 61 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London, the eldest of three sons and a daughter of Leonard Huxley (1860–1933) and his first wife, Julia Frances Arnold (1862–1908). Leonard Huxley was at this time a schoolmaster at ...
Image
Maker: Howard Coster
Image
Article
I. Grattan-Guinness
Jourdain, Philip Edward Bertrand (1879–1919), historian of mathematics and logic, was born on 16 October 1879 at Ashbourne vicarage, Derbyshire, one of the large family of Francis Jourdain, vicar of Ashbourne, and his wife, Emily, formerly Clay. Among his siblings, an elder sister, ...
Article
Kirkman, Thomas Penyngton (1806–1895), mathematician and philosopher, was born on 31 March 1806 in Bolton, Lancashire, the only son of John Kirkman (d. 1839), cotton dealer, and his wife, Elizabeth. Baptized Pennington, he adopted the spelling Penyngton in later life. He was educated at ...
Article
Monck, (William Henry) Stanley (1839–1915), lawyer, philosopher, and astronomer, was born in Skeirke, near Borris-in-Ossory, co. Queen’s, Ireland, on 21 April 1839, the third son of Thomas Stanley Monck (1796–1858), Church of Ireland curate of Skeirke, and his wife, ...