Henry Power: Difference between revisions

'''Henry Power''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society{{Post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS]]}} (1623–1668) was an English physician and experimenter, one of the first elected Fellows[[fellows of the [[Royal Society]].

Power matriculated as a pensioner of [[Christ's College, Cambridge]], in 1641 and graduated B.A.a [[Bachelor of Arts]] in 1644.<ref>{{acad|id=PWR641H|name=Power, Henry}}</ref> He became a regular correspondent of [[Sir Thomas Browne]], who had lived in [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]] from 1633-1635 to 1635 on scientific subjects. He graduated M.A.a [[Master of Arts]] in 1648, and M.D.a [[Doctor of Medicine]] in {{Circa|1655 (1654?)}}. It appears that he practicedpractised his profession at [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax]] for some time, but he eventually removedmoved to [[New Hall Elland|New Hall]], near [[Elland]]. Power was elected and admitted a fellow of the Royal Society 1 July 1663, he and Sir [[Sir Justinian Isham, 2nd Baronet]], being the first elected members.

He died at New Hall on 23 December 1668, and was buried in the church of All Saints' Church, Wakefield, with a brass plate to his memory, with a [[Latin]] inscription, on the floor in the middle chancel.<ref name = DNB>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Power, Henry}}</ref>

His only published work is 'Experimental Philosophy'.<ref>{{cite bookjournal|doi=10.1179/amb.1967.14.3.150 |title=Henry Power's Experimental Philosophy, in three Books |locationdate=London1967 |year=1664 |pmid=11615523 |quote=(actually published in 1663) |isbn=978-1240810734 |oclc=872500329|last1=Webster |first1=C. |journal=[[Ambix]] |volume=14 |number=3 |pages=150–78 |publisher=Taylor and Francis}}</ref> Its three books deal respectively with [[microscopy]] and [[corpuscularian]] theory; the experiments of [[Evangelista Torricelli|Torricelli]]; and the [[vacuum]], and refutations proposed for the works of the Jesuit [[Jacobus Grandamicus]] (Jacques Grandami, 1588–1672).<ref name = DNB/><ref>[[Andrew Pyle (philosopher)|Andrew Pyle]] (editor), ''Dictionary of Seventeenth Century British Philosophers'' (2000), article on Power, pp. 667-670667–670.</ref>

In a series of experiments with his family friend, [[Richard Towneley]], Henry Power discovered the relationship between the pressure and volume of a gas that later became known as [[Boyle's law]]. This relationship was outlined in [["Experimental Philosophy."]]. However, many may argue nevertheless that a pre-publicationprepublication manuscript of "Experimental Philosophy" cited the hypothesis as the sole work of Mr. Richard Towneley. Robert Boyle's mention of the theory preceded the publication of [["Experimental Philosophy"]] by one year, which, combined with Boyle's promotion of the idea and his significant status as an aristocratic [[scientist]], ensured the theory would be known as "Boyle's Law.". Boyle attributed Towneley as the sole researcher, ensuring that Power's contributions were all but lost to history. <ref>{{cite journal |last=Webster |first=Charles |year=1965 |title=The Discovery of Boyle's Law, and the Concept of the Elasticity of Air in the Seventeenth Century. |journal=Archive for History of Exact Sciences |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer-Verlag]] |doi=10.1007/BF00324880 <!--|js40049658 unknown number--> |issn=1432-0657 |oclc=39966759 |volume=2 |number=6 |pages=441–502|s2cid=120414681 }}</ref>

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