William Whewell

Author Code: EWWH

Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, Whewell was a gifted and versatile individual who became the epitome of the renaissance man. In 1814, he won the Chancellor's prize for his epic poem Boadicea. In 1820, he was elected to the Royal Society and a Fellow of Trinity College. He was ordained a priest in 1825 and in 1828 took the Chair in Mineralogy. In 1838, he became Professor of Moral Philosophy and in 1841, Master of Trinity College. He was also Vice-Chancellor of the University in 1842 and 1855. During his lifetime he published over 150 books, articles, translations and scientific papers. He died after being thrown from his horse in 1866. The Whewell crater on the Moon is named after him and he is also credited with introducing the term scientist in 1833. His major works include Astronomy and General Physics Considered with Reference to Natural Philosophy (1833), The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded Upon Their History (1840), The Elements of Morality, Including Polity (1845), Lectures on the History of Moral Philosophy (1852), On The Plurality of Worlds (1853), The History of Scientific Ideas (1858), Six Lectures on Political Economy (1862) and Comte and Positivism (1866).