William Derham | |
|---|---|
 18th-century tableau of William Derham | |
| Born | (1657-11-26)26 November 1657 Stoulton,Worcestershire, England |
| Died | 5 April 1735(1735-04-05) (aged 77) |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Oxford |
| Known for | Natural theology; Measurement of thespeed of sound |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physico-Theology |
William DerhamFRS (26 November 1657 – 5 April 1735)[1] was an English clergyman,natural theologian,natural philosopher andscientist. He produced the earliest reasonably accurate measurement of thespeed of sound.
William Derham was the son of Thomas Derham. He was born atStoulton, inWorcestershire, England. He was educated atBlockley,Gloucestershire, and atTrinity College, Oxford, from 1675 to 1679.[1] He was ordained on 29 May 1681. In 1682, he becamevicar ofWargrave,Berkshire, and from 1689 to 1735 he wasRector atUpminster,Essex. While at Upminster, in 1716 he became aCanon of Windsor and the vestry minutes show that thereafter he divided his time between those two places. The parish registers of Upminster record his burial at St. Laurence's in 1735. However, the precise site of his grave is unknown and, in accordance with his wishes, there is no memorial to him in the church.[2]
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In 1696, he published hisArtificial Clockmaker, which went through several editions. The best known of his subsequent works arePhysico-Theology, published in 1713;Astro-Theology, 1714; andChristo-Theology, 1730. All three of these books areteleological arguments for the being and attributes ofGod, and were used byWilliam Paley nearly a century later.[3] However, these books also include quantities of original scientific observations. For example,Physico-Theology contains his recognition of natural variation within species and that he knew thatDidelphis virginialis (theVirginia opossum) was the only marsupial inNorth America. It also includes one of the earliest theoretical descriptions of amarine chronometer, accompanied by a discussion of the use of vacuum seals to reduce inaccuracies in the operation of timepieces. He is the first person known to have used the wordchronometer.[4]
Similarly,Astro-Theology includes several newly identifiednebulae (this was the name used at the time for all extended astronomical objects: some of his nebulae are what we would now callstar clusters). His 16-foot-long (4.9 m) telescope (also used when measuring the velocity of sound) was at the top of the tower of St Laurence's Church, where the necessary doors are still in place.[2]
On 3 February 1703, Derham was electedFellow of the Royal Society. He wasBoyle lecturer in 1711–1712. His last known work, entitledA Defence of the Church's Right in Leasehold Estates, appeared as early as 1731.[3]
But besides the works published in his own name, Derham contributed a variety of papers to theTransactions of the Royal Society. He revised theMiscellanea Curiosa.[3] He edited the correspondence and wrote a biography ofJohn Ray, whose 'physico-theology' (natural theology) tradition he continued, making him an earlyparson-naturalist.[5]
He editedEleazar Albin'sNatural History, and published some of the manuscripts of the scientistRobert Hooke.[3] His meteorological observations atUpminster (in theTransactions of the Royal Society) are amongst the earliest series in England.
In 1709 Derham published a more accurate measure of the speed of sound, at 1,072Parisian feet per second.[6] Derham used a telescope from the tower of thechurch of St Laurence, Upminster, to observe the flash of a distant shotgun being fired, and then measured the time until he heard the gunshot with a half second pendulum. Measurements were made of gunshots from local landmarks including theChurch of St Mary Magdalene, North Ockendon. The distance was known bytriangulation, and thus the speed that the sound had travelled could be calculated.[2]
Dr Derham was of small stature and distorted frame. He was not only the moral and religious benefactor of his parishioners, and of all those who came in his way, but he was likewise the physician of their bodies, and their pecuniary friend in all their difficulties. He lived beloved, and died lamented, at his rectory, in 1735 …[7]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Derham, William".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 73–74.
