A System of Mechanical Philosophy (Cambridge Library Collection - Technology)

by John Robison, David Brewster (Editor)

After a brief career at sea, during which he tested Harrison's chronometer for the Board of Longitude, John Robison (1739 1805) became lecturer in chemistry at the University of Glasgow. In 1774, having spent a period teaching mathematics in Russia, he returned to Scotland as professor of natural philosophy at Edinburgh. Despite his busy schedule, he contributed major articles on the sciences to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, giving an overview of contemporary scientific knowledge for the educated layperson. After his death, these and other pieces of his scientific writing were edited by his former pupil David Brewster (1781 1868) and were finally published in four volumes in 1822, with a separate volume of illustrative plates. This reissue incorporates those plates in the relevant volumes of text. Volume 1 contains articles on dynamics and on the construction of roofs, arches and bridges, as well as a previously unpublished manuscript on projectile motion."

742 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2004