biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1724–93)
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| biography:
| Geologist, born in Nottinghamshire, C England, UK. A fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, and professor of geology (1762–64), he described a method of magnetization, founded the science of seismology, and is credited with the invention of the torsion balance. In 1767 he retired as rector to Thornhill in West Yorkshire where he devoted the rest of his life to science, particularly astronomy. Shortly before his death he delivered a lecture to the Royal Society speculating about the existence of what are now called black holes. |
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