In the late 1740s, Zachariah Williams was evicted from the Charterhouse, a City of London almshouse for people who require charitable help to live. Williams was a clergyman with an interest in science. He was a trained doctor and had proposed innovative schemes for coal mining. He spent most of his life trying to convince people that he had discovered a method of determining longitude at sea. His ideas, however, were rejected by the Admiralty in 1728, after which he was admitted to the Charterhouse, on the Prime Minister, Robert Walpole’s, recommendation.
I found this utterly fascinating, and deeply inspiring - thank you for sharing. The idea that even great innovators and scientists need some form of amanuensis to articulate and express their ideas is something that I feel the mixed bag of scientific communication throughout the pandemic has proven out (hence the appreciation for the likes of Zeynep Tufecki etc in filling that void). An inadvertant flipside of your proposed scientist-writer double act might be the more recent trend for tech companies building products off the basis of ideas from science fiction writing (with mixed results for the rest of us). Thank you again.
Your essay well illustrated Johnson's wide-ranging interests. But I admit to a bit of frustration at reading "Johnson wrote letters in his support, to Lords of the Admiralty and the Earl of Halifax. In 1755, Johnson wrote an account of William’s theories to promote them." and never learning the effects that Johnson's writing had. Did Williams get the money? Was it a Hollywood ending?
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.
A dove-house filled with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell through all its regions.
- William Blake
Your articles on Dr J are a delight!
I found this utterly fascinating, and deeply inspiring - thank you for sharing. The idea that even great innovators and scientists need some form of amanuensis to articulate and express their ideas is something that I feel the mixed bag of scientific communication throughout the pandemic has proven out (hence the appreciation for the likes of Zeynep Tufecki etc in filling that void). An inadvertant flipside of your proposed scientist-writer double act might be the more recent trend for tech companies building products off the basis of ideas from science fiction writing (with mixed results for the rest of us). Thank you again.
Thank you - this is a very stimulating piece.
Thank you. What an interesting article.
Your essay well illustrated Johnson's wide-ranging interests. But I admit to a bit of frustration at reading "Johnson wrote letters in his support, to Lords of the Admiralty and the Earl of Halifax. In 1755, Johnson wrote an account of William’s theories to promote them." and never learning the effects that Johnson's writing had. Did Williams get the money? Was it a Hollywood ending?