The Home Life of Sir David Brewster

An absorbing biography of the inventor of the kaleidoscope, Sir David Brewster, originally published in 1869.

Margaret Maria Gordon (Author)

9781108014250, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 June 2010

460 pages, 3 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.6 cm, 0.58 kg

The Home Life of Sir David Brewster, originally published in 1869, records the remarkable life of inventor, physicist, mathematician and astronomer, Sir David Brewster (1781–1868). Written by his daughter, Mrs Margaret M. Gordon, the book is aimed at a non-academic audience, and details the extraordinary life and work of this amazing scientist, who began his studies at Edinburgh University at the age of just twelve, and who is best known for his invention of the kaleidoscope and of the apparatus that initially formed the structure of the core of the lighthouse, and thus his work on the polarization of light. Mrs. Gordon cites Brewster's many activities, including the publication of over 2,000 scientific papers, though she stresses that she has written about her father as the man, and not the scientist. The book will appeal to anyone interested in the life and career of this undoubtedly brilliant Scotsman.

1. The birthplace
2. The child
3. The companions
4. The student
5. Settling in life
6. Notes of life from 1810 to 1814
7. Notes of life from 1814 to 1824
8. Miss Edgeworth - Junius
9. Notes of life from 1824 to 1830
10. Notes of life from 1830 to 1836
11. Notes of life from 1836 to 1844
12. Notes of life from 1844 to 1850
13. Notes of life from 1850 to 1851
14. Notes of life from 1852 to 1853
15. Notes of life from 1854 to 1855
16. Notes of life from 1855 to 1860
17. Characteristics
18. Religious history
19. Notes of life from 1860 to 1864
20. Notes of life from 1864 to 1867
21. The end
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Optical physics [PHJ]