A System of Mechanical Philosophy

Published in 1822, this four-volume illustrated collection of scientific writings includes Robison's insightful contributions to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

John Robison (Author), David Brewster (Edited by)

9781108070379, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 August 2014

742 pages, 12 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 4.1 cm, 0.93 kg

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 Volume 1 contains articles on dynamics and on the construction of roofs, arches and bridges, as well as a previously unpublished manuscript on projectile motion.

Preface of the editor
Dynamics
Projectiles
Corpuscular forces
Strength of materials
Carpentry
Roof
On the construction of arches
On the construction of centres for bridges.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]