威廉·惠斯顿William Whiston

威廉·惠斯顿的父亲是Josiah Whiston，他是诺顿的长老会牧师。惠斯顿的母亲是Katherine Rosse，她的父亲Gabriel Rosse曾在Josiah Whiston之前 immediately prior 担任诺顿教区的牧师。惠斯顿是他父母九个孩子中的第四个，出生在诺顿的牧师住宅。惠斯顿由父亲教到17岁，但他也为父亲抄写手稿，充当秘书角色。1684年，他进入塔姆沃思的文法学校，随后在1686年，在上了两年学之后，他进入剑桥大学克莱尔学院。他非常贫穷，因为父亲在他上大学前不久去世了。然而，惠斯顿继承了家族图书馆，并遵从父亲的愿望，接受培训以成为长老会牧师。

惠斯顿在剑桥期间听了艾萨克·牛顿的讲座，在数学上显示出极大的前途。他于1690年获得学士学位，随后于1691年在克莱尔学院获得研究员职位。两年后，他被授予硕士学位，并在同年被授予圣职。此时，他受到大卫·格雷戈里的鼓励，去研究艾萨克·牛顿的Principia。他回到剑桥，打算招收数学学生，但健康状况不佳使他放弃了克莱尔学院导师的职位。

从1694年到1698年，他担任诺里奇主教的随行牧师。在此期间，他写了A New Theory of the Earth（1696年），其中他声称圣经中关于创世、洪水等故事可以科学地解释为具有历史基础的事件的描述。他严重依赖应用艾萨克·牛顿的物理学（事实上这本书是献给艾萨克·牛顿的）以及当时正在发展的关于地质学的新思想，来支持圣经的记载。例如，他声称圣经中的洪水是由于一颗彗星撞击地球造成的，鉴于当前对这类理论的兴趣，这是一个有趣的理论。当然，这部作品将科学与宗教混合到了惠斯顿声称彗星是受神圣指引的程度。A New Theory of the Earth非常受欢迎，出现了法语和德语译本。即使是像布丰这样批评惠斯顿的书的人也接受了他的一些思想，并将其纳入自己的理论中。

1698年，惠斯顿在萨福克的洛斯托夫特-基辛兰获得了一个牧师职位。直到此时，他一直保留着在克莱尔学院的研究员职位，但他在1699年6月辞去了这一职位，这是他为了结婚而被迫做的。他与露丝·安特罗伯斯结婚，她是坦沃思文法学校校长的女儿，他曾就读于这所学校。他们有八个孩子，其中四个（莎拉、惠斯顿、乔治和弗瑞兹·约翰）活到了成年。他的岳父乔治·安特罗伯斯给了这对新婚夫妇一个位于剑桥郡达灵厄姆附近的农场，为他们提供了年收入。从1701年2月起，他被任命为剑桥艾萨克·牛顿的助手。然而，惠斯顿在圣经年表问题上与艾萨克·牛顿发生了争执，因为与艾萨克·牛顿的不同，他的宇宙论涉及上帝的直接干预。尽管如此，惠斯顿的许多宗教信仰似乎与艾萨克·牛顿的接近。

1702年5月，惠斯顿接替艾萨克·牛顿成为卢卡斯讲席教授，并在次年出版了一版安德烈·塔凯的欧几里得，“供大学年轻学生使用”。在艾萨克·牛顿的同意下，惠斯顿于1707年出版了艾萨克·牛顿的代数讲座，题为Arithmetica universalisⓉ（通用算术），三年后，又出版了他自己的天文学讲座，题为Praelectiones astronomicaeⓉ（天文学讲座）。英文版于1715年出版，题为Astronomical Lectures。他在剑桥讲授数学和自然哲学，并且在罗杰·柯特斯于1706年被任命为普卢米安讲席教授后，得到了惠斯顿的大力推荐，他们进行了联合研究。他们一起在剑桥开设了第一批实验物理学课程。

惠斯顿还出版了宗教著作，如Essay on the Revelation（1706年）。他逐渐相信三位一体的教义是不正确的（艾萨克·牛顿也是如此），尽管起初他谨慎地不公开反对既定教会的观点，但后来他变得更加大胆，并在Sermons and Essays（1709年）中发表了自己的观点。这些观点并不受欢迎，在他拒绝承认自己错误之后，他被带到剑桥各学院院长面前，被指控为异端。1710年10月30日，他被剥夺了讲席，并被剑桥大学解职。他前往伦敦，大法官在那里设立了一个法庭以异端罪审判他，但在安妮女王去世后，针对他的诉讼被撤销。一位1710年在伦敦见到他的德国访客这样描述他：-

……性情非常敏捷而热烈，身材高瘦，下巴尖削，留着自己的头发。在外貌上，他很像加尔文。他非常喜欢说话，辩论时极为激烈。

惠斯顿此时相当贫穷，靠纽马基特附近一个小农场的收入生活。为了赚钱，他与比他小二十岁的Francis Hauksbee合伙，从1713年起，他们开设了一门涵盖力学、流体静力学、气体力学和光学的课程。第二年，他们编写了一本课程手册，该手册被广泛使用，后来成为牛津大学一些课程的基础。他在伦敦的咖啡馆里讲课，是最早在讲课期间演示科学实验的人之一。随着时间的推移，他的经济状况因各种赞助人提供收入而改善。结果，由于不再需要赚钱，他讲课减少了。

1714年，惠斯顿与Humphrey Ditton一起向议会提议，建议他们通过提供巨额经济奖励来鼓励解决经度问题的工作。这一想法得到了艾萨克·牛顿、萨缪尔·克拉克、罗杰·柯特斯和爱德蒙·哈雷的支持，结果是议会于1714年晚些时候通过了《经度法案》。作为《经度法案》的主要热心推动者之一，惠斯顿现在提出了若干在海上确定经度的方法；一个好的解决方案有大量奖金，但他从未成功。他提出的方法包括在大西洋上固定点驻扎船只，每艘船每天在固定时间发射一颗星弹。船只可以通过计算在看到闪光后炮弹声音到达它们所需的时间，来计算它们与这样一艘船的距离。他的一个提议涉及磁倾角，这当然并非没有意义。这在[8]中有详细讨论。Howarth写道，惠斯顿：-

他在1719年和1720年绘制了已知最早的显示磁倾角方向的地图（针对英格兰东南部）。他还预见了⟦N1⟧在1723年对水平与垂直磁强度比值的测量，并且他理解这些与磁倾角的关系。

豪沃思随后试图理解惠斯顿是如何拟合平面等倾面的：-

这之所以有趣，是因为他的研究比“迈耶方法”的发表早三十一年，比阿德里安-马里·勒让德-卡尔·弗里德里希·高斯的“最小二乘法”早八十六年。有人提出，惠斯顿利用在选定的三个地点观测到的倾角来拟合这些曲面；而他这样做是为了用未纳入地点的数据来检验他的模型。

惠斯顿于1721年发表了The Longitude and Latitude Found by the Inclinatory or Dipping Needle。

当他受到异端指控时，他大胆地在一系列小册子Primitive Christianity Revived（1711-12）中阐述了自己的宗教信仰。由于希望回归早期形式的基督教，他于1715年创立了促进原始基督教协会，该协会在惠斯顿的伦敦家中举行会议。继续他的科学与宗教主题，他于1717年出版了Astronomical Principles of Religion。由于反对亚他那修信经，他于1747年离开了英格兰教会，并加入了浸信会。

罗杰·林登 Hall，即惠斯顿去世的地方，是皮埃尔·萨米埃尔 Barker的住所，他是惠斯顿的女儿Sarah的丈夫。Ruth Whiston于1751年去世，惠斯顿在病了一周后于次年去世。他被安葬在林登教堂墓地。

William Whiston's father was Josiah Whiston who was a presbyterian minister at Norton. William's mother was Katherine Rosse, whose father Gabriel Rosse had been the minister of Norton parish immediately prior to Josiah Whiston. William, the fourth of his parents nine children, was born in the rectory at Norton. William was taught by his father until he was 17, but he also acted in a secretarial role by copying manuscripts for his father. In 1684 he went to the grammar school in Tamworth then, in 1686, after two years of school, he entered Clare College, Cambridge. He was very poor since his father died shortly before he went to university. However Whiston inherited the family library and was following his father's wishes that he train to become a presbyterian minister.

William attended Newton's lectures while at Cambridge and he showed great promise in mathematics. He obtained his B.A. in 1690, then obtained a fellowship at Clare College in 1691. Two years later he was awarded an M.A. and was ordained in the same year. He was encouraged by David Gregory at this time to study Newton's Principia. He returned to Cambridge, intending to take mathematics pupils, but ill health made him give up his position as a tutor at Clare College.

From 1694 to 1698 he was chaplain to the bishop of Norwich. During this period he wrote A New Theory of the Earth (1696), in which he claimed that the biblical stories of the creation, flood etc. could be explained scientifically as descriptions of events with historical bases. He relied heavily on applying Newton's physics (in fact the book was dedicated to Newton) and on the new ideas about geology which were then being developed, to support the biblical account. For example he claimed that the biblical flood was due to a comet hitting the Earth, an interesting theory given the current interest in theories of this type. Of course the work mixed science and religion to the extent that Whiston claimed that the comet was divinely guided. A New Theory of the Earth proved very popular with French and German translations appearing. Even those such as Buffon who criticised Whiston's book accepted some his ideas which they incorporated into their own theories.

In 1698 Whiston obtained a vicarage in Suffolk at Lowestoft-with-Kissingland. Up to this time he had continued to hold his fellowship at Clare College, but he resigned in June 1699 which he was forced to do in order to marry. He married Ruth Antrobus who was the daughter of the headmaster of the grammar school in Tamworth which he had attended. They had eight children, of whom four (Sarah, William, George, and John) reached adulthood. His father-in-law, George Antrobus, gave the newly married couple a farm near Dullingham in Cambridgeshire which provided them with an annual income. He was appointed assistant to Newton at Cambridge from February 1701. However Whiston fell out with Newton over Bible chronology for, unlike Newton's, his cosmology involved direct intervention by God. Despite this much of Whiston's religious beliefs seem close to those of Newton.

In May 1702 Whiston succeeded Newton as Lucasian professor and, in the following year, he published an edition of Tacquet's Euclid "for the use of young students in the University". With Newton's agreement, Whiston published Newton's algebra lectures in 1707 under the title Arithmetica universalis Ⓣ and, three years later, his own astronomy lectures as Praelectiones astronomicae Ⓣ. The English version was published in 1715 as Astronomical Lectures. He lectured at Cambridge on mathematics and natural philosophy and, after Roger Cotes was appointed to the Plumian professorship in 1706, receiving strong recommendations from Whiston, they undertook joint research. Together they introduced the first courses on experimental physics at Cambridge.

Whiston also published religious works such as Essay on the Revelation (1706). He came to believe that the doctrine of the Trinity was incorrect (as did Newton) and, although at first careful not to publicly oppose the views of the established church, he later became bolder and published his views in Sermons and Essays (1709). These views were not popular and, after he refused to acknowledge that he was in error, he was brought before the heads of the Cambridge colleges charged with heresy. He was deprived of his chair on 30 October 1710 and dismissed from Cambridge University. He went to London where a court was set up by the lord chancellor to try him for heresy but, after the death of Queen Anne, proceedings against him were dropped. A German visitor to London who met him in 1710 described him as being:-

... of very quick and ardent spirit, tall and spare, with a pointed chin and wears his own hair. In looks, he greatly resembles Calvin. He is very fond of speaking and argues with great vehemence.

Whiston was now rather poor and lived off the income of a small farm near Newmarket. To make money he formed a partnership with Francis Hauksbee, who was twenty years his junior, and from 1713 they gave a course covering mechanics, hydrostatics, pneumatics, and optics. In the following year they produced a course manual which was widely used and later formed the basis of some of the courses at Oxford. He lectured in the coffee-houses of London, being one of the first to demonstrate science experiments during the lectures. As time went on his financial position improved as various patrons provided an income for him. As a result, without needing to make money, he lectured less.

In 1714, along with Humphrey Ditton, Whiston approached parliament advising them to encourage work on solving the longitude problem by offering large financial rewards. The idea was supported by Newton, Clarke, Cotes, and Halley and the result was the Longitude Act passed by parliament later in 1714. Having been one of the main enthusiasts for the Longitude Act, Whiston now proposed a number of methods of finding the longitude at sea; there was a lot of money for a good solution but he never succeeded. The methods he proposed included having vessels stationed at fixed points across the Atlantic, having each fire a star shell at a fixed time each day. Ships would be able to calculate their distance from such a vessel by calculating the time taken for the sound of the shell to reach them after the flash was observed. One of his proposals concerned magnetic inclination and is certainly not without interest. It is discussed in detail in [8]. Howarth writes that Whiston:-

... made the first known maps showing the direction of magnetic inclination (for south-eastern England) in 1719 and 1720. He also anticipated Graham's 1723 measurement of the ratio of horizontal and vertical magnetic intensities, and he understood their relationship to magnetic inclination.

Howarth then tries to understand how Whiston fitted the planar isoclinic surfaces:-

This is of interest because his study precedes the publication of 'Meyer's method' by thirty-one years and the Legendre-Gauss 'method of least squares' by eighty-six years. It is suggested that Whiston fitted the surfaces using observations of inclination at a chosen triple of localities; and that he did this in order to use data from non-included localities as a check on his model.

Whiston published The Longitude and Latitude Found by the Inclinatory or Dipping Needle in 1721.

While he was being subjected to charges of heresy he was bold enough to set out his religious beliefs in a series of pamphlets Primitive Christianity Revived (1711-12). Wanting to return to an early form of Christianity, he founded the Society for Promoting Primitive Christianity in 1715 which held meetings in Whiston's London home. Continuing with his theme of science and religion, he published Astronomical Principles of Religion in 1717. He left the Church of England in 1747 because of his objection to the Athanasian creed, and joined the Baptists.

Lyndon Hall, where Whiston died, was the residence of Samuel Barker, the husband of Whiston's daughter Sarah. Ruth Whiston died in 1751, and Whiston died in the following year after being ill for one week. He was buried in Lyndon churchyard.