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Smeaton, John (1724-1792)

From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Place : Netherlands Subject : biography, technology and manufacturing British civil engineer who rebuilt the Eddystone lighthouse in 1759 and was also greatly influential in directing the scientific research that was being carried out in the mid-18th century. It was he who first adopted the term ‘civil engineer’ in contradistinction to the fast-growing number of mililtary engineers graduating from the military colleges. Smeaton was born of Scottish ancestry in Austhorpe, near Leeds on 8 June 1724. He was encouraged to practise law, and after a good elementary education he served in his father's firm of solicitors. Later he went to London for further training, but his natural inclination for mechanical science led him to leave law and become a maker of scientific instruments. He soon introduced many technical innovations - one of which was a novel instrument with which he was able to measure and study the expansion characteristics of various materials. From 1756 to 1759 he was engaged…
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Full text Article Smeaton, John (1724-1792)

From The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Place : Netherlands Subject : biography, technology and manufacturing British civil engineer who rebuilt the Eddystone lighthouse in 1759 and was also greatly influential in directing the scientific research that was being carried out in the mid-18th century. It was he who first adopted the term…
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Full text Article Smeaton, John

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(born June 8, 1724, Austhorpe, Yorkshire, Eng.—died Oct. 28, 1792, Austhorpe) British civil engineer. In 1756–59 he rebuilt the Eddystone Lighthouse (off Plymouth), during which he rediscovered hydraulic cement (lost since the fall of Rome) as the best mortar for underwater construction. He…
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Full text Article 8 June 1724

From The Hutchinson Chronology of World History Full text Article 1724
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U.S. President Woodrow Wilson requested the...
The first significant scientific society in the United States was the American Philosophical Society, organized in 1743 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). During colonial times, the quest to understand nature and seek information about the natural world was called…
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Full text Article log.

From The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea
(1) The shortened name for a log book . (2) The name given to any device for measuring the speed of a vessel through the water or the distance it has sailed in a given time. All the early types of devices for doing this were based on the same principle. This was first described in print in A…
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The maximum power output of selected...
1. Introduction 2. Hydropower Potential 3. What Nature Gives Us 4. How Hydropower is Captured 5. Hydroturbines 6. Ecological Considerations 7. Advantages and Disadvantages of Hydropower Development Glossary axial-flow turbine A co... …
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South Elevation of the Stone Lighthouse completed upon the Edystone in 1759, 1763 (engraving)
Artist: Rooker, Edward (c.1712-74) Location: Private Collection Credit: South Elevation of the Stone Lighthouse completed upon the Edystone in 1759, 1763 (engraving), Rooker, Edward (c.1712-74) / Private Collection / The Bridgeman Art Library Date: 1768 Medium: engraving Description: Showing the…
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Full text Article Eddystone Rocks

From Brewer's Britain and Ireland
Eddystone probably ModE eddy + stone , referring to the lethal currents around the rocks ( see STONE ). A dangerous group of rocks in the English Channel, about 23 km (14 miles) south of Plymouth. The first Eddystone Lighthouse (or Eddystone Light , as it is often called) was built by Henry…
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Full text Article Inventors

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Certain inventors were to pay the price of their own ingenuity. The following are instances, although some probably belong to the realm of fable rather than of fact. bastille : Hugues Aubriot, provost of Paris, who built the Bastille ( c. 1369), was the first person confined therein; the charge…
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