Abraham Bennet
Encyclopedia
Abraham Bennet FRS (baptised
20 December 1749 - buried 9 May 1799) was an English
clergy
man and physicist
, the inventor of the gold-leaf electroscope and developer of an improved magnetometer
. Though he was cited by Alessandro Volta
as a key influence on his own work, Bennet's work was curtailed by the political turbulence of his time.
, the son of another Abraham Bennet, a schoolmaster, and his wife Ann née Fallowes. There is no record of him having attended university
but he is recorded as a teacher at Wirksworth Grammar School as "MA
". He was ordained
in London in 1775 and appointed curate
at Tideswell
and, one year later, additionally at Wirksworth
, with a combined annual stipend
of £60. He further became rector
of Fenny Bentley
, domestic chaplain to the Duke of Devonshire
, perpetual curate of Woburn
and librarian
to the Duke of Bedford
.
Bennet had broad interests in natural philosophy
and was associated with, though not a member of, the Lunar Society
and the Derby Philosophical Society
. He was particularly close to Erasmus Darwin
. Darwin suggested that Bennet make electrical measurements as part of an investigation into electricity
and weather. Bennet then worked assiduously establishing his expertise in electricity, achieving sufficient reputatation to be part of a meeting with Tiberius Cavallo
, William Nicholson
and Volta in London in 1782.
Bennet described experiments with an electrophorus
and the generation of electricity by evaporation
. Bennet extended his thinking into various theories about electricity and weather, with electrical explanations of the aurora borealis and meteor
s. He interpreted lightning
as the release of electrical charge from clouds, and went on to hypothesise that rain was caused by lightning and also that earthquake
s had an electrical origin.
, George Adams
and the Wirksworth squire
s, the Gell family. The Gells, Kaye, Banks, Adams, and the Dukes of Devonshire and Bedford were all establishment figures whose hostility to the radicals of the Lunar and Derby Philosophical Societies intensified in the British
reaction to the French Revolution
. Bennet increasinly found it necessary to take sides, signing the Gells' petition
against Jacobinism in 1795. Bennet's scientific work ends around this date, possibly from ill-health but also possibly from his inability to resolve the tensions among his erstwhile supporters.
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
20 December 1749 - buried 9 May 1799) was an English
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
man and physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, the inventor of the gold-leaf electroscope and developer of an improved magnetometer
Magnetometer
A magnetometer is a measuring instrument used to measure the strength or direction of a magnetic field either produced in the laboratory or existing in nature...
. Though he was cited by Alessandro Volta
Alessandro Volta
Count Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Gerolamo Umberto Volta was a Lombard physicist known especially for the invention of the battery in 1800.-Early life and works:...
as a key influence on his own work, Bennet's work was curtailed by the political turbulence of his time.
Life
Abraham was baptised in Taxal, DerbyshireDerbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
, the son of another Abraham Bennet, a schoolmaster, and his wife Ann née Fallowes. There is no record of him having attended university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
but he is recorded as a teacher at Wirksworth Grammar School as "MA
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
". He was ordained
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
in London in 1775 and appointed curate
Curate
A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...
at Tideswell
Tideswell
Tideswell is a village and civil parish in the Peak District of Derbyshire, in England. It lies east of Buxton on the B6049, in a wide dry valley on a limestone plateau, at an altitude of above sea level, and is within the District of Derbyshire Dales...
and, one year later, additionally at Wirksworth
Wirksworth
Wirksworth is a small market town in Derbyshire, England, with a population of over 9,000.The population of the Wirksworth area including Cromford, Bolehill and Middleton-by-Wirksworth is about 12,000. Wirksworth is listed in the Domesday Book in 1086. Within it is the source of the River...
, with a combined annual stipend
Stipend
A stipend is a form of salary, such as for an internship or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from a wage or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work performed, instead it represents a payment that enables somebody to be exempt partly or wholly from waged or salaried...
of £60. He further became rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Fenny Bentley
Fenny Bentley
Fenny Bentley is a village close to Dovedale, Derbyshire, England. It lies two north of Ashbourne, on the A515 Buxton to Ashbourne Road.The Church of St Edmund at Fenny Bentley probably dates back to the 14th century but it was very heavily restored in the 19th century when the spire was added to...
, domestic chaplain to the Duke of Devonshire
Duke of Devonshire
Duke of Devonshire is a title in the peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the richest and most influential aristocratic families in England since the 16th century, and have been rivalled in political influence perhaps only...
, perpetual curate of Woburn
Woburn, Bedfordshire
Woburn is a small Saxon village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is situated about southeast of the centre of Milton Keynes, and about south of junction 13 of the M1 motorway and is a popular tourist attraction.-History:...
and librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
to the Duke of Bedford
Duke of Bedford
thumb|right|240px|William Russell, 1st Duke of BedfordDuke of Bedford is a title that has been created five times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1414 in favour of Henry IV's third son, John, who later served as regent of France. He was made Earl of Kendal at the same time...
.
Bennet had broad interests in natural philosophy
Natural philosophy
Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...
and was associated with, though not a member of, the Lunar Society
Lunar Society
The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle,...
and the Derby Philosophical Society
Derby Philosophical Society
The Derby Philosophical Society was a club for gentleman in Derby founded in 1783 by Erasmus Darwin. The club had many notable members and also offered the first institutional library in Derby that was available to some section of the public.-History:...
. He was particularly close to Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin was an English physician who turned down George III's invitation to be a physician to the King. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave trade abolitionist,inventor and poet...
. Darwin suggested that Bennet make electrical measurements as part of an investigation into electricity
Electricity
Electricity is a general term encompassing a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning, static electricity, and the flow of electrical current in an electrical wire...
and weather. Bennet then worked assiduously establishing his expertise in electricity, achieving sufficient reputatation to be part of a meeting with Tiberius Cavallo
Tiberius Cavallo
Tiberius Cavallo was an Italian physicist and natural philosopher.-Life:He was born at Naples, where his father was a physician....
, William Nicholson
William Nicholson (chemist)
William Nicholson was a renowned English chemist and writer on "natural philosophy" and chemistry, as well as a translator, journalist, publisher, scientist, and inventor.-Early life:...
and Volta in London in 1782.
New Experiments
Bennet published New Experiments on Electricity in 1789. In it, he described:- The gold-leaf electroscope;
- A doubler of electricity, already announced in a paper communicated to the Royal SocietyRoyal SocietyThe Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
by Rev. Richard Kaye FRS, Dean of LincolnDean of LincolnThe Dean of Lincoln is the head of the Chapter of Lincoln Cathedral in the city of Lincoln, England in the Diocese of Lincoln. The post is currently held by the Very Revd Philip John Warr Buckler, MA.-References:...
in 1787; and - A theory of electricity that anticipated Volta's contact theory. Bennet's work was a key element in leading Volta to the contact theory and the development of the voltaic pileVoltaic pileA voltaic pile is a set of individual Galvanic cells placed in series. The voltaic pile, invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800, was the first electric battery...
.
Bennet described experiments with an electrophorus
Electrophorus
An electrophorus is a capacitive generator used to produce electrostatic charge via the process of electrostatic induction. A first version of it was invented in 1762 by Swedish professor Johan Carl Wilcke,...
and the generation of electricity by evaporation
Evaporation
Evaporation is a type of vaporization of a liquid that occurs only on the surface of a liquid. The other type of vaporization is boiling, which, instead, occurs on the entire mass of the liquid....
. Bennet extended his thinking into various theories about electricity and weather, with electrical explanations of the aurora borealis and meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
s. He interpreted lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
as the release of electrical charge from clouds, and went on to hypothesise that rain was caused by lightning and also that earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
s had an electrical origin.
Politics
Among Bennet's other patrons were Joseph BanksJoseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of the natural sciences. He took part in Captain James Cook's first great voyage . Banks is credited with the introduction to the Western world of eucalyptus, acacia, mimosa and the genus named after him,...
, George Adams
George Adams (optician)
George Adams Sr was an English optical designer and scientific writer who was also well known as a maker of mathematical instruments and globes. Among his works are a Treatise on the Construction and Use of Globes and an "Essay on the Microscope" .-Biography:His son, George Adams Jr...
and the Wirksworth squire
Squire
The English word squire is a shortened version of the word Esquire, from the Old French , itself derived from the Late Latin , in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was , "arms bearer"...
s, the Gell family. The Gells, Kaye, Banks, Adams, and the Dukes of Devonshire and Bedford were all establishment figures whose hostility to the radicals of the Lunar and Derby Philosophical Societies intensified in the British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
reaction to the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. Bennet increasinly found it necessary to take sides, signing the Gells' petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
against Jacobinism in 1795. Bennet's scientific work ends around this date, possibly from ill-health but also possibly from his inability to resolve the tensions among his erstwhile supporters.
Personal life
He married Jane (died 1826) and the couple had six daughters and two sons. Bennet died of a "severe illness".Honours and memorial
- Fellow of the Royal Society, (1789);
- There is a memorial plaque in St Mary's Church, WirksworthSt Mary's Church, WirksworthSt. Mary's Church, Wirksworth, is a parish church in the Church of England in Wirksworth, Derbyshire.-Description:It is a Grade I listed building dating mostly from the thirteenth century. It was restored in 1870 by Sir Gilbert Scott...
and a portrait by an unknown artist.