Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy

The Jacksonian Professorship of Natural Philosophy is one of the senior chairs in Natural and Experimental philosophy at Cambridge University, and was founded in 1782 by a bequest from the Reverend Richard Jackson.[1]

Isaac Milner, first Jacksonian Professor from 1783 to 1792

Didier Queloz, incumbent Jacksonian Professor since 2021

In 1782 the Reverend Richard Jackson of Tarrington, Herefordshire, and a former fellow of Trinity College died, leaving a fifth of the income from his estate to the head gardener of the university's physic garden and the remainder to found the Professorship of Natural and Experimental Philosophy that now bears his name. His will specified the details of the professor with much precision, including that preference should be given to candidates from Trinity and men from Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Derbyshire and Cheshire, and that any holder must search for a cure for gout.[2]

The will also stated that his lectures should promote "real and useful knowledge" by "showing or doing something in the way of experiment upon the subject undertaken to be treated," and its early holders consequently tended towards the experimental end of the field, such as chemists and engineers. More recently, it has been decided that the professorship should permanently be associated with physics.

The first holder of the position was the mathematician and chemist Isaac Milner, elected to the post in 1783.

One result of the bequest was that a building was erected to allow public lectures for the professor, as well as the professor of botany. It was the University's first building to be specifically designed for the teaching of science.

By 2020, the Jacksonian endowment was no longer sufficient to fund the professorship. In order to afford an appointment to the Jacksonian Professorship, a funded professorship needed to be held vacant.[3]

Jacksonian Professors

Isaac Milner (1783–1792)[4]
Francis Wollaston (1792–1813)[5]
William Farish (1813–1837)[6]
Robert Willis (1837–1875)[7]
James Dewar (1875–1923)[8][9]
C. T. R. Wilson (1925–1934)[10]
Edward Appleton (1936–1939)[11]
John Cockcroft (1939–1946)[12]
Otto Frisch (1947–1972)[13]
Alan Cook (1972–1990)[14]
Malcolm Longair (1991–2008)[15]
James Stirling (2008–2013)[16]
Didier Queloz (2021–)[3]

References

Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). "Jackson, Richard (1700-1782?)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
Clark (1904), pp. 206–216.
"Report of the General Board on an election to the Jacksonian Professorship of Natural Philosophy" (PDF). Cambridge University Reporter. No. 6595. 11 November 2020. p. 142. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
Neale (1907), p. 20.
Neale (1907), p. 22.
Neale (1907), p. 21.
"William Henry Besant". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 78 (4): 241. 1918. doi:10.1093/mnras/78.4.241.
"James Dewar (1842-1923)". Royal Institution. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
Pippard, Brian (1993). "Siegfried Ruhemann (1859–1943), FRS 1914–1923". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 47 (2): 271–276. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1993.0033. JSTOR 531791. S2CID 143131750.
Longair, Malcolm S. (2004). "Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees (1869–1959), physicist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36950. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
"Institution of Electrical Engineers Awards: Faraday Medal". Nature. 157 (3978): 99. 1946. doi:10.1038/157099c0. S2CID 4017057.
"Cockcroft, John, Sir, 1897-1967". Physics History Network. American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
"Otto Frisch". Atomic Archive. AJ Software & Multimedia. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
"Sir Alan Cook". The Independent. 31 July 2004. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
"Honorary graduates 2011/12". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
"Elections, appointments, reappointments, and grant of title". Cambridge University Reporter. No. 6093. 28 November 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2022.

Sources

Clark, John Willis, ed. (1904). "IV. Professorships". Endowments of the University of Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. pp. 151–258. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511693571.005. ISBN 9780511693571 – via Internet Archive.
Neale, C. M. (1907). The Senior Wranglers of the University of Cambridge, from 1748 to 1907. Bury St Edmunds: F. T. Groom and Son. Retrieved 1 May 2022 – via Internet Archive.

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[1] Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). "Jackson, Richard (1700-1782?)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

[FOOTNOTEClark1904206–216-2] Clark (1904), pp. 206–216.

[reporter-6595-3] "Report of the General Board on an election to the Jacksonian Professorship of Natural Philosophy" (PDF). Cambridge University Reporter. No. 6595. 11 November 2020. p. 142. Retrieved 30 April 2022.

[FOOTNOTENeale190720-4] Neale (1907), p. 20.

[FOOTNOTENeale190722-5] Neale (1907), p. 22.

[FOOTNOTENeale190721-6] Neale (1907), p. 21.

[7] "William Henry Besant". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 78 (4): 241. 1918. doi:10.1093/mnras/78.4.241.

[8] "James Dewar (1842-1923)". Royal Institution. Retrieved 1 May 2022.

[9] Pippard, Brian (1993). "Siegfried Ruhemann (1859–1943), FRS 1914–1923". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 47 (2): 271–276. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1993.0033. JSTOR 531791. S2CID 143131750.

[10] Longair, Malcolm S. (2004). "Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees (1869–1959), physicist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36950. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[11] "Institution of Electrical Engineers Awards: Faraday Medal". Nature. 157 (3978): 99. 1946. doi:10.1038/157099c0. S2CID 4017057.

[12] "Cockcroft, John, Sir, 1897-1967". Physics History Network. American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 30 April 2022.

[13] "Otto Frisch". Atomic Archive. AJ Software & Multimedia. Retrieved 30 April 2022.

[14] "Sir Alan Cook". The Independent. 31 July 2004. Retrieved 30 April 2022.

[15] "Honorary graduates 2011/12". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 30 April 2022.

[16] "Elections, appointments, reappointments, and grant of title". Cambridge University Reporter. No. 6093. 28 November 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2022.