Henry Cavendish

Henry Cavendish (October 10, 1731 - February 24, 1810) was a British scientist.

Personal life

He was silent and solitary, viewed as somewhat eccentric, and formed no close personal relationships outside his family. By one account, Cavendish had a back staircase added to his house in order to avoid encountering his housekeeper because he was especially shy of women. The contemporary accounts of his personality have led some modern commentators to speculate that he had Asperger's syndrome, though he may have been merely painfully shy.

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Because of his asocial and secretive behaviour, he often avoided publishing his work, and much of his findings were not even told to his fellow scientists. It wasn't until the late nineteenth century, after his death, that James Clerk Maxwell looked through his papers. He found that credit to most of his discoveries had already been given to others. Examples of what was included in Cavendish's discoveries or anticipations were Richter's Law of Reciprocal Proportions, Ohm's Law, Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures, principles of electrical conductivity and Charles's Law of Gases.

Related Topics:
James Clerk Maxwell - Richter's Law of Reciprocal Proportions - Ohm's Law - Dalton's Law of Partial Pressures - Charles's Law of Gases

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He left a large estate on his death which was used to endow the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University in 1871.

Related Topics:
Cavendish Laboratory - 1871

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