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WILLIAM NICHOLSON (1753-1815)

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 658 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIAM NICHOLSON (1753-1815)  ,
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English writer on natural philosophy, was born in
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London in 1753, and after leaving school made two voyages as
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midshipman in the East India service . He subsequently entered an attorney's office, but, having become acquainted, in 1775, with Josiah Wedgwood. he lived for some years at Amsterdam as agent for the sale of pottery . On his return to England he was induced by Thomas Holcroft to devote himself to the composition of
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light literature for
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periodicals, assisting that writer also with some of his plays and novels . Meanwhile he employed himself on the preparation of An Introduction to Natural Philosophy, which was published in 1781 and was at once successful . A
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translation of Voltaire's Elements of the Newtonian Philosophy soon followed, and he now entirely devoted himself to scientific pursuits and philosophical journalism . In 1784 he was appointed secretary to the General Chamber of Manufacturers of
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Great Britain, and he was also connected with the Society for the Encouragement of
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Naval Architecture, established in 1791 . He bestowed much attention upon the construction of various
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machines for comb-cutting,
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file-making, cylinder printing, &c.; he also invented an areometer . In 1800 he began in London a course of public lectures on natural philosophy and chemistry, and about this period he made the
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discovery of the decomposition of
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water by the voltaic current . In 1797 the Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts, generally known as Nicholson's Journal, the earliest
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work of the kind in Great Britain, was begun; it was carried on till 1814 . During the later years of his
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life Nicholson's attention was chiefly directed to waterworks
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engineering at Portsmouth, at
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Gosport and in
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Southwark . He died in London on the 21st of May 1815 . Besides considerable contributions to the Philosophical Trans-actions, Nicholson wrote
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translations of Fourcroy's Chemistry (1787) and Chaptal's Chemistry (1788), First Principles of Chemistry (1788) and a Chemical
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Dictionary (1795) ; he also edited the
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British
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Encyclopaedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (6 vols., 8vo, London, 1809) .

End of Article: WILLIAM NICHOLSON (1753-1815)
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