Henry Cavendish is a misanthropist scientist who has fenced off from the whole world. Exceptional wealth allowed him to live as he considered necessary. And the scientist chose science and loneliness for himself. The life and research of this scientist for a long time remained a mystery to others - the essence of the experiments conducted by Henry Cavendish, became clear only many years later. Below readers are invited to familiarize themselves with some little-known facts from the life of Henry Cavendish and his activities.
Biography of Henry Cavendish stingy on the details of his personal life. He was a representative of one of the most notable English families. He spent his considerable fortune on research and experiments. Significant discoveries in the natural sciences belong to his mind, but detailed publications of the discoveries were only seen by subscribers to the Philosophical Transactions publication, which described the latest research by members of the Royal Scientific Society. Henry Cavendish kept most of his scientific records in his own archive, which became available to researchers only two hundred years after his death.
Privacy
Most in life, Henry Cavendish valued solitude. He communicated with his servants through short notes, could not stand the presence of strangers in his house. Often he returned home through the back door, fearing a conversation with his own housekeeper. The scientist eschewed women's society and sometimes climbed into his office on a ladder only to avoid meeting with the fair sex working for him. Henry Cavendish valued privacy above all and had little interest in reality. Such social upheavals as the French Revolution and its consequences left him indifferent - in any case, in the surviving correspondence there is no hint that the scientist knew about this social catastrophe of the late 18th century. But he was well versed in furniture and collected the most unique examples of carpentry art - there was a record of his acquisition of several chairs with expensive satin upholstery.
He valued his loneliness so much that he ordered himself buried in a closed coffin, and there should not have been inscriptions on the crypt with his ashes indicating that Henry Cavendish was buried there. Photos of the famous cathedral in Derby, where this wonderful scholar was laid to rest, are in every guidebook, but not a single reliable portrait of him has been preserved.
Gas research
From his father, who was successfully involved in meteorology, Henry Cavendish adopted the gift of observation and a penchant for scientific research. A fairly accurate weighing of hydrogen prompted him the idea of using it in aeronautics. His experiments with this gas (Cavendish called it phlogiston) helped him discover the composition of water, decompose air into its components: oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, water vapor. The accuracy of his analyzes was so great that repeating the scientist’s experiments under almost the same conditions, W. Ramsay and J. Rayleigh were able to discover the inert argon gas .
Experiments with electricity
Henry Cavendish and his discovery of the law of the interaction of electric charges remained in the unknown for more than two hundred years. Meanwhile, this basic law of electricity was discovered by Sir Henry Cavendish twelve years before Coulomb. In another work, the scientist studied the effect of substances that do not conduct electricity on the capacitance of capacitors. He wrote the first, fairly accurate calculation of the dielectric constant for some substances.
Confirming Newton
Although the empirical discovery of Isaac Newton astounded the imagination of scientists, it needed practical confirmation. Henry Cavendish’s experience with torsion scales made it possible to measure the attractive force of two spheres with this simple design, thereby confirming the law of gravity. These studies allowed us to derive such constants as the gravitational constant, mass and average density of the planet Earth.
Patronage
This very modest and reserved person was one of the largest patrons of the time. He financially supported the poor who sought knowledge. There are records of a student who helped the scientist tidy up the huge Cavendish library. Upon learning of the financial difficulties of his assistant, Henry Cavendish wrote a colossal amount of 10 thousand pounds to support him. And this is far from an isolated case.
Random discovery
Few people know that the unique heritage of Henry Cavendish became accessible thanks to another famous scientist - James Maxwell. He managed to get permission to browse the archives of an eccentric researcher. And even now, most of it remains unassembled - the purpose of the designed devices and the complex language of manuscripts are almost not understood by modern scientists. It should be taken into account that the mathematical language at that time was not thoroughly developed, and the explanation of many functions was polysyllabic and incomprehensible.
Cavendish Laboratory
The famous English laboratory of Cavendish is not named Henry Cavendish, but his relative and surname - Sir William Cavendish, the seventh duke of Devonshire.
This pundit left no trace in science, but was able to perpetuate his name by donating a large sum to the erection of a unique scientific laboratory, which still functions successfully today.