Record

Authorised form of nameFinch; Sir; John (1626 - 1682); physician and diplomat
Dates1626 - 1682
NationalityBritish
Place of birthLondon, England, Europe
Date of birth1626
Place of deathLondon, England, Europe
Date of death18 November 1682
Dates and placesBurial:
Christ's College chapel, Cambridge, England, Europe (in the same vault as Sir Thomas Baines FRS 1663) (November 1682)
OccupationPhysician
Research fieldAnatomy
ActivityEducation:
Eton College; Mr Sylvester's School at Oxford; Christ's College, Cambridge (admitted 1645); Inner Temple (admitted 1644); Balliol College, Oxford (BA 1647); Incorporated at Cambridge (1647); MA (Cambridge 1649); Padua (MD 1660); Incorporated at Cambridge (1660)
Career:
English Consul at Padua and Syndic of the University; Professor of Anatomy at Pisa (1659-1665); Returned to England (1661); Minister to the Grand Duke of Tuscany (1665); Ambassador to Ottoman court in Constantinople (1672-1681); went on special mission to Adrianople (1675)
Honours:
Kt 1661
Memberships:
Extra Fellow RCP (1661)
Membership categoryOriginal Fellow
Date of election20/05/1663
Royal Society activityCommittee and panels:
Mechanical Committee (1664); Nominated for the Committee to improve the English language (1664)
Other Royal Society activityWhilst in Italy and Turkey, Finch acted as the Royal Society correspondent in these areas; Tasked with enquiries into poisons while in Italy (1664)
RelationshipsParents: Sir Heneage Finch and Frances Bell
Siblings: Half-sister Anne Conway, Viscountess Conway and Killultagh
Additional relatives: uncle of Daniel Finch (FRS 1668)
General contextIn his role as correspondent for the Royal Society in Italy and Turkey, and as an English resident in Florence, Finch - known in Italy as Giovanni Fink - was involved in the significant literary and natural philosophers' circles of his time. He enjoyed a good reputation as an anatomist and performed dissections at the Arcispedale of Santa Maria Novella. Furthermore, he was a member of the circle of Prince Leopoldo de'Medici, who was a patron of the Accademia del Cimento and with whom he maintained correspondence. His main treatise survived him as a manuscript and show a refute of Descartes and Henry More, his tutor, in the areas of materialism and sense-based epistemology.
SourcesSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; Venn; Foster; ODNB
References:
R E W Maddison, 'The Accompt of William Balle from 28 November 1660 to 11 September 1663' in NR 1959 vol 14 pp 174-183
T L Underwood, 'Quakers and the Royal Society of London in the Seventeenth Century' in NR 1976-7 vol 31 pp 133-150
W E Knowles Middleton, 'Some Italian Visitors to the Early Royal Society' in NR 1978-9 vol 33 pp 157-173
Susana Gomez Lopez, 'The Royal Society and Post-Galilean Science in Italy' in NR 1997 vol 51 pp 35-44
Notes:
The election date is Finch's election date into the Society after the grant of the second charter in April 1663. All Fellows admitted in a two-month window after this charter, until 22 June 1663, are considered Original Fellows.
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/13116680
Royal Society codeNA8054
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference numberTitleDate
EL/O1/20Letter, from Henry Oldenburg to John Finch, dated at London7 December 1665
EL/O1/77Letter, from Henry Oldenburg to John Finch, dated at London4 September 1668
EL/F1/44Letter, from John Finch to Henry Oldenburg, dated at Florence14 July 1668
EL/O1/98Letter, from Henry Oldenburg to John Finch, dated at London14 January 1669
EL/O1/26Letter, from Henry Oldenburg to John Finch, dated at London10 April 1666
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