Scientists
John Michell
/ˈmɪtʃəl/ (MITCH-el)
Citation Formats
General Reference
APA Style
BibTeX
John Michell (1724-1793) was an English clergyman and natural philosopher whose work spanned astronomy, geology and gravitation. He built a torsion balance to measure the gravitational attraction between masses but died before he could use it; the instrument passed to his friend Henry Cavendish, who completed the experiment. Michell is also credited with the earliest speculation, in 1783, that a sufficiently massive and compact star could have an escape velocity exceeding the speed of light, an early precursor of the black hole concept.
Facts
Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account Death DateSourced to the subject's own account Death YearSourced to the subject's own account FieldSourced to the subject's own accountAstronomy, geology, natural philosophy 1 Death PlaceSourced to the subject's own accountThornhill, Yorkshire, England 1 NationalitySourced to the subject's own account Notable WorkSourced to the subject's own accountPredicting the existence of black holes 1 BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own accountEakring, Nottinghamshire, England 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Invented
Built independently before 1783; Michell died before completing an experiment with it, and his instrument passed to Henry Cavendish.
Works In
Sources
1. John Michell (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLead sectionQuote, Lead section
25 December 1724 - 21 April 1793) was an English natural philosopher and clergyman who provided pioneering insights into a wide range of scientific fields including astronomy, geology
1. John Michell (Wikipedia)
WikipediaInfoboxQuote, Infobox
Known for Predicting the existence of black holes, seismology, manufacture of magnets, mass of the Earth
1. John Michell (Wikipedia)
WikipediaInvented: Torsion Balance, Gravity sectionQuote, Invented: Torsion Balance, Gravity section
Michell devised a torsion balance for measuring the mass of the Earth, but died before he could use it. His instrument passed into the hands of his lifelong friend Henry Cavendish, who first performed in 1798 the experiment now known as the Cavendish experiment.
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.