William Watson

William Watson (April 3, 1715 - May 10, 1787) was an English naturalist, physician, and physicist. He studied electrical phenomena, modifying the Leyden jar by adding a metal cover, which he discovered that in this way the electrical discharge was increased.

His early work focused on botany introducing Charles Linnaeus' binomial nomenclature to the UK. Later, from 1744, he would be interested in electricity. In 1741 he entered the Royal Society and in 1772 he held the position of vice-president of this society. In 1745 he was awarded the Copley Medal for his merits in scientific research.

In 1747 he demonstrated that the capacity of a Leyden jar was increased by lining the inside and outside with a sheet of lead. The same year he proposed that two types of electricity, & # 34;vitreous & # 34; and "resinous" Postulated by Du Fay corresponded to an excess charge (positive charge) and a charge deficiency (negative charge) of the same fluid that he called & # 34; electric ether & # 34; and that the amount of electric charge was conserved.

Later he would learn that Benjamin Franklin had simultaneously developed the same theory independently, later becoming scientific and political allies.

Some posts

Independent Writing

• Experiments and Observations tending to illustrate the Nature and Properties of Electricity, London ⁴1746; French edition under the title Expériences et observations pour serve à l'explication de la nature et des propriétés de l'électricité... in: William Watson, Johann Heinrich Winckler: Recueil de traités sur l'électricitéParis 1748.

• A Sequel to the Experiments and Observations tending to illustrate the Nature and Properties of Electricity... London ²1746 (comented Benjamin Rackstrow: Some Remarks on a Pamphlet, intituled, A Sequel to the Experiments ankl Observations tending to illustrate the Nature and Properties of ElectricityIn ders. Miscellaneous Observations, Together with a Collection of Experiments On Electricity... London 1748)

• An account of a series of experiments, instituted with a view of ascertaining the most successful method of inoculating the small-pox, London 1768; German translation version of Christian Heinrich Schütte under the title Zweener berühmten englischen Aerzte des Herrn Doct. Watsons und Doct. Glaß Versuche und Abhandlungen von der neuesten und besten Art die Kinderblattern glücklich einzupfropfen, Halle 1769

Documents

• A Case Wherein Part of the Lungs Were Coughed up. Presented to the Royal Society by William Watson, F. R. S. in Philosophical Trans. 41 (1741), ISSN 0260-7085, p. 623–624, online PDF-document in the shared directory on Wikimedia Commons (first publication of Watson as a member of the Royal Society of London).

• Some Remarks Occasioned by the Precedeing Paper, Addressed to the Royal Society by Mr. William Watson, Apothecary, and F. R. S. in Philosophical Trans. 42 (1743), ISSN 0260-7085, p. 599–601, online in PDF-document at Wikimedia Commons (Watson's first opinion against Pickering's statements on the discovery of mushroom spores).

• Experiments and Observations, Tending to Illustrate the Nature and Properties of Electricity in Philosophical Trans. 43 (1745), ISSN 0260-7085, p. 481−501, online in PDF-document at Wikimedia Commons (Watson's report to the Royal Society in the experiment carried out in 1745 the series of electricity).

• An Account of a Manuscript Treatise... Intituled, Traité du Corail... That is to Say, A Treatise upon Coral, and Several Other Productions Furnish’d by the Sea, in Order to Illustrate the Natural History Thereof, by the Sieur de Peyssonnel... Extracted and Translated from the French by Mr. William Watsonin Philosophical Trans. 47 (1752), ISSN 0260-7085, p. 445–469, online in PDF-document at Wikimedia Commons (translation of Watson Jean-André Peyssonnel's report in corals.

• Observations upon the Effects of Lightning, with an Account of the Apparatus Proposed to Prevent Its Mischiefs to Buildings, More Particularly to Powder Magazines..., in: Philosophical Trans. 54 (1764), ISSN 0260-7085, p. 201–227, online PDF-document at Wikimedia Commons (Watson's proposal to protect the dusters from lightning).

Eponymy

Plant genus

• (Iridaceae) Watsonia Mill.

Sterculiaceae Watsonia Boehm. -- in Ludw. Def. Gen. Pl. 278 (1760). (I.K.)