| Authorised form of name | Michell; John (1724 - 1793) |
| Dates | 1724 - 1793 |
| Place of birth | The Rectory, Eakring, Nottinghamshire |
| Date of birth | 25 December 1724 |
| Place of death | Thornhill, Yorkshire |
| Date of death | 21 April 1793 |
| Occupation | Clergyman, Church of England |
| Research field | Astronomy |
| Activity | Education:
Queen's College, Cambridge. BA (4th Wrangler, 1748); Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge (1749); MA (1752); BD (1761)
Career:
Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge (1749-1764); Lecturer in Hebrew, Arithmetic, Geometry and Greek; Rector of St Botolph's, Colchester, Essex (1760-1763); Woodwardian Professor of Geology at Cambridge (1762-1764); Rector of Thornhill, Yorkshire (1767); wrote on artifical magnets, earthquakes, longitude, and fixed stars; invented apparatus for weighing the earth with a torsion balance; made at least one telescope, a large reflector, about 1780, which was purchased by William Herschel; taught Sir William Herschel speculum-grinding.
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| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 12/06/1760 |
| PublishedWorks | First paper published by Royal Society in 1767, relating to distances of stars based upon their parallaxes, and with the true nature of double stars. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; Venn
References:
Desmond King-Hele, 'The 1997 Wilkins Lecture: Erasmus Darwin, the Lunaticks and Evolution' in NR 1998 vol 52 pp 153-180
John H Appleby, 'Daniel Dumaresq, DD, FRS (1712-1805) as a Promoter of Anglo-Russian Science and Culture' in NR 1990 vol 44 pp 25-50
Mari Williams, 'James Bradley and the Eighteenth Century "Gap" in Attempts to Measure Annual Stellar Parallax' in NR 1982-83 vol 37 pp 83-100
Sir Bernard Lovell, 'Herschel's Work on the Structure of the Universe' in NR 1978-9 vol 33 pp 57-75
Orchiston, Wayne, Whittingham, Ian, Montgomery, Colin 'Michell, Laplace and the origin of the Black Hole concept' in Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 12(2), 90-96 (2009)
Notes:
Described as 'of Nottinghamshire' when admitted to Queens' College, Cambridge, on 17 Jun 1742 (DNB). |
| Code | NA7798 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| IM/003084 | Michell, John | 2001 |
| L&P/4/325 | Paper, 'Proposals of a method for measuring degrees on longitude upon parallels of the equator' by John Michell | 1766 |
| L&P/3/406 | Letter, 'Of the recent comet' from John Michel to Thomas Birch | 10 January 1760 |
| L&P/8/48/1 | Letter, 'On a means of discovering the distance of the fixed stars in consequence of a diminution in the velocity of their light' from John Michell to Henry Cavendish | 26 May 1783 |
| EC/1760/06 | Michell, John: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| L&P/3/426/1 | Letter, 'Conjectures concerning the cause, and observations concerning the phenomena of earthquakes, particularly that of Nov 1 1755' from John Michell to the Royal Society | 1759 |
| L&P/3/426 | Paper, 'Conjectures concerning the cause, and observations concerning the phenomena of earthquakes, particularly that of Nov 1 1755' by John Michell | 1759 |
| L&P/4/391 | Paper, 'The parallax and magnitude of fixed stars calculated from the quantity of their light' by John Michell | 1767 |
| L&P/8/48/2 | Plate, 'Geometric figure' by John Michell | 1783 |
| PP/14/21/1 | Manuscript, 'On the Cavendish experiment' by C V [Charles Vernon] Boys | 1889 |
| PP/14/21 | Paper, 'On the Cavendish experiment' by C V [Charles Vernon] Boys | 1889 |
| L&P/8/48 | Paper, 'On a means of discovering the distance of the fixed stars in consequence of a diminution in the velocity of their light' by John Michell | 26 May 1783 |