“Life and Letters of James David Forbes”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
Figure timeline
James David Forbes
James David Forbes (1809–1868) was a Scottish physicist and glaciologist who worked extensively on the conduction of heat and seismology. Forbes was a resident of Edinburgh for most of his life, educated at its University and a professor there from 1833 until he became principal of the United College of St Andrews in 1859.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
science · Scottish physicist and glaciologist (1809–1868) · physicist · glaciologist · geologist · inventor · seismologist · university teacher · mountaineer · writer · naturalist · meteorologist · also James David Forbes, James Forbes, Forbes
Born 20 April 1809 · Died 31 December 1868 · Q1356328
16 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
3 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Award
1873· 1 entry
1868· 1 entry
Died 1868-12-31.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
1863· 1 entry
Won Keith Medal (1863).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1859· 1 entry
Was appointed successor to Brewster in the principalship of the United College of St Andrews, a position which he held until his death at Clifton in 1868
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1857· 1 entry
Is often known in statistics as Forbes's data, its utility being that:
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1846· 2 entries
Won Royal Society Bakerian Medal (1846).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Began experiments on the temperature of the earth at different depths and in different soils near Edinburgh, which yielded determinations of the thermal conductivity of trap-tufa, sandstone and pure loose sand
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1843· 1 entry
Won Royal Medal (1843).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1840· 1 entry
When he met Louis Agassiz at the Glasgow meeting of the British Association, and in subsequent years he made several visits to Switzerland, where he was particularly impressed by Bernhard Studer's theories, and also to N
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1839· 2 entries
“Completing my Twenty-first Year”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
A committee was formed in the United Kingdom in order to produce better detection methods for earthquakes
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1838· 2 entries
Won Rumford Medal (1838).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
And in 1843 he received its Royal Medal for a paper on the "Transparency of the Atmosphere and the Laws of Extinction of the Sun's Rays passing through it
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1832· 1 entry
Was elected to the Royal Society of London
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1825· 1 entry
And soon afterwards began to contribute papers to the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal anonymously under the signature "Δ"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1809· 1 entry
Born 1809-04-20.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth