James Ferguson, An Introduction to Electricity, 1775

Plate 1, An introduction to electricity. In six sections by James Ferguson, 1775. The device across top is an electrostatic generator, operated by turning the handle at far right. The other devices all relate to experiments that can be carried out with the electric charge generated with the machine. James Ferguson (April 25, 1710 - November 17, 1776) was a Scottish astronomer and instrument maker. After his father taught him to write, he was sent to the grammar school for three months and that was all the formal education he ever received. In 1720 he was sent to a neighboring farm to keep sheep, where he amused himself by making models of machines, and at night he studied the stars. In 1734 he went to Edinburgh, where he began to make portraits in miniature to himself and his family for many years. He wrote papers for the Royal Society of London, devised astronomical and mechanical models, and in 1748 began to give public lectures on experimental philosophy. His passion for his subject, his clear explanations with diagrams, made him one of the most successful of popular lecturers on scientific subjects. He is best remembered as inventor and improver of astronomical and other scientific apparatus. He died in 1776 at the age of 66. Line engraving by John Bayly

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1710 1720 1734 1748 1775 1776 Amused Astronomer Astronomical Bayly Clear Devices Devised Diagrams Electrostatic Experimental Experiments Explanations Generator Grammar Improver Introduction Lecturers Lectures Mechanical Neighboring Operated Philosophy Relate Remembered Sections Studied Subjects Taught Turning Write Wrote

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