What's in a name? The Cambridge University Colleges

When was the divorce decree issued, making official the separation of the faith/reason or faith/science marriage?  If you look strictly at the naming of Cambridge University colleges the end of the 19th century corresponds well with Schaeffer's "Line of Despair".  Pre-20th century colleges at Cambridge include: 

• Trinity Hall, founded 1350
• Corpus Christi, f. 1352
• Magdalene, f. 1428
• St. Catharine's, f. 1473
• Jesus, f. 1496
• Christ's, f. 1505
• St. John's, f. 1511
• Trinity, f. 1546
• Emmanuel, f. 1584
• St. Edmund's, f. 1896

After St. Edmund's, the colleges are exclusively secular in name, including among others:

• New Hall
• Churchill
• Darwin
• Robinson

Granted that among those early religiously named are also colleges named for secular dignitaries, mostly royalty (King's College, Queens, Clare, etc...)  Granted that the earlier colleges were first training grounds for the clergy, then took on the secular academic role.  Also granted that there continue to be seminary subjects within the modern colleges.    But the see-saw which once tilted heavily toward faith-centered thought, turned on it's fulcrum (seemingly in the late 1800's) and now faith-based-thought dangles with it's little legs kicking the air across from a bloated non-faith-based-thought see-saw partner.  (To stretch a metaphor and over-use hyphens!)

The "what" of this transition seems beyond doubt, the "when" and "where" are clear but less certain.   To me, the "why" and "how" are the least clear, up for the most debate, and  the most interesting.  

My preference is that the tyke at the top of the see-saw starts growing up and that the chubby guy at the other end should call Jenny Craig.  But that both stay on and play.  Because you know what happens when one jumps off.

Happy Birthday to Newton, 365 Years Old!

Born on Christmas Day, 1643.

And what gift would I give Newton for his birthday?  

• An Apple iPhone with the Quick Graph 3D graphing application (because... you know... Apple...)
• A Night Vision Pinch Bunk Bot (because he probably didn't have a plush robot to sleep with when he was a kid)
• And a block of frozen smoke (because aerogels are just too cool)

An Unholy Marriage in Newton's Principia

Newton's masterpiece  Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (or, "The Principia") stands as one of the most important scientific texts in history.   But modern people who read it have major problems with it (and not just because it is exceedingly thick and technical).  There are problems at one's gut level when it is examined.  Why? An odd marriage of faith and science within the same volume.  It was not odd for Newton's time, but is for ours.  He pairs theology along with the codification of the laws of motion, gravity, and geometric proofs.  An example of the theology from The Principia:

The Supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect; but a being, however perfect, without dominion, cannot be said to be Lord God; for we say, my God, your God, the God of Israel, the God of Gods, and Lord of Lords; but we do not say, my Eternal, your Eternal, the Eternal of Israel, the Eternal of Gods; we do not say, my Infinite, or my Perfect: these are titles which have no respect to servants. The word God' usually signifies Lord; but every lord is not a God. It is the dominion of a spiritual being which constitutes a God: a true, supreme, or imaginary dominion makes a true, supreme, or imaginary God. And from his true dominion it follows that the true God is a living, intelligent, and powerful Being; and, from his other perfections, that he is supreme, or most perfect. He is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, his duration reaches from eternity to eternity; his presence from infinity to infinity; he governs all things, and knows all things that are or can be done. He is not eternity and infinity, but eternal and infinite; he is not duration or space, but he endures and is present.

Our squirming has no end.  Many modern scientists squirm because their cart typically isn't attached to that horse.  What was the last issue of Nature or Scientific American to have theological contributions?  But many Christians squirm because their cart is attached to that horse, but a different breed.  Newton's public faith often deviated from traditional doctrine.    

The source (but unnecessary, I believe) of the unease is the separation of faith and science as disciplines.  Francis Schaeffer argues that humanity crossed "The Line of Despair" in the early 1900's where faith and reason were ultimately separated and people were forced to live either in the lower story of a house (reason) or the upper story (faith), but not both upstairs and downstairs within the post-modern framework.  Perhaps a lion's share of moderns' unease with The Principia, is that Newton lived on both stories of the house at once.  Or rather, he had no separate stories, just one unified abode where faith and reason lived together, shared meals, and (probably) argued about whether the toilet paper roll should pull up or down. 

In his book Orthodoxy, GK Chesterton describes the terrible result of the effort to separation faith from reason:

With a long and sustained tug we have attempted to pull the mitre off pontifical man; and his head has come off with it.

Welcome to "The Secret of Newton" Blog from Brian Steele

By education and trade I'm a geologist which makes me a scientist. But I'm not an authority on science though I know a thing or two about rocks. I'm fascinated by history, but not a historian. I am a Christian, but not  a theologian. I am Newton enthusiast but am far from a Newton scholar. I wrote  the novel "A Body at Rest" to pursue my passions in the areas of science, history, faith and the interaction of the three. The only mantle of authority I claim is the history and inner workings of Elyon College, the fictional school I created for the sake of the novel. For matters relating to Elyon I'll accept criticism and correction only from the novel characters themselves, and, since by my keyboard I hold them by the lips, that's not likely to happen.

In all other matters on this blog (religious, scientific, historical) I welcome your input, discussion, dialogue and correction where I stand to be corrected. As I said, my command and understanding of the realm of Elyon is unimpeachable, in all else fire away. From this blog and the novel, I welcome input from Cambridge alumni, Newton devotees, scientists, people of faith and people without faith. All are expected and I hope will be shared with my same passions and intentions to highlight some brilliant subjects, times, places and characters in history. Cheers!

Open Comments for Early Readers of "A Body at Rest"

If you've been given an early copy of my novel "A Body at Rest", here's a place to leave comments, interact with the other readers, shoot spit balls, or hurl rotten vegetables.  No spoilers please.   

Australian Brush Fires

Updated: Over 150 lives lost in the worst fires of Australia modern history.

This photo is from The Big Picture:

More 700 homes have been lost to date in Southern Australia.    More information about the ongoing tragedy below on the updated map.

Bonus Point Leader Board

In case you missed it on ESPN Sports Center night, here is the most current standings on the Bonus Points Leader Board.  They are always available on the sidebar in case you want to feverishly check where you're on the heap.  And you know you want to be feverish about this!

Points Name

74.5 Rocket Scientist

45   The Deeps of Time

33          Letters from Lausanne

26          Black Holes and Astrostuff

22          Lea (early reader of "A Body at Rest")

20 Newton's Ocean

20 Leave the Lights On

20         Imagining the Tenth Dimension

15          Make

15 Dallin

10          Glue4Families

10          Shakespeare Mom

10          Thom L.

10 Arash's World

10 Nested Universe

10 Ether Wave Propaganda

5            Nonfiction Lover

Bonus Points are for those who make great contributions to The Secret of Newton.  See the FAQ for more info about how to get these highly coveted points and be the envy of your peers.

Or, if you want to forsake the honor, fame and respect of your peers on the Leader Board you can buy neat stuff with your Bonus Points.  Just visit the Store House O' Prizes.

Free Comedy Gold From Craig's List: Large Pumpkin

[WARNING, GRAPHIC IMAGE OF MOLDY PUMPKIN BELOW.  NOT WORK SAFE, OR HOME SAFE, OR DINNER SAFE, OR LUNCH SAFE, OR BREAKFAST SAFE, OR MIDDLE AFTERNOON SNACK SAFE, OR FREE-SAMPLE-TABLE-AT-COSTCO SAFE.  But you know you want to see it anyway.]

OK, it is Friday, and I'm really in the mood for a pumpkin.  An old pumpkin, left over from Fall.  A big one! A large, old pumpkin. But I don't want to eat it, so it should be an inedible, large, old pumpkin.  And I don't want to pay for it.  What to do?  Ah... check the Craig's List free classifieds and see if I'm in luck.

Bingo!

-------------------------------------------------
Large Pumpkin (Bellingham)

via craigslist | free stuff in bellingham on 2/2/09

We have a large (approx. 10" in diameter) pumpkin left over from fall. It is probably not edible so we're giving it away to anyone that has a use for it. Email if interested; can meet at a mutually convenient location.

-------------------------------------------------

It is now almost the middle of February.  I don't know about you, but my pumpkin looked like this after about Mid November.  I suppose that's why it is a free pumpkin.  And comedy gold!

Image from Glitch City.

Snap Shots: A Bonus for Those on the Leader Board

2/4/09 Update: Snap Shots went down like a lead ballon.  Didn't work for folks.  5 Bonus Points also to Boris for alerting me to the dark, dark underbelly of the widget.  Snap Shots are no more.  I'll have to find a much less evil way of rewarding followers of the blog than Snap Shot Shares!  Cheers!

Three announcements:

1. I'm trying out Snap Shots, which allows you to take a sneak peak at links on my blog before clicking.  More details about this below.
2. Snap Shots has a feature called "Snap Shares" which gives me a percentage of the ad space on the Snap displays.  Because I'm grateful to the visitors and participants to TSON, I'm dedicating my Snap Shares to the top three sites on the Bonus Points Leader Board.  Each of the top three will get  a week's worth of Snap Shares where their blogs and links will be  plugged.  Since Rocket Scientist is in the BP lead, she will be getting the first round of Snap Shares.
3. I made sixth place on the "Top Ten Coolest People You Meet" list on the Nonfiction Lover blog.  (Being new to blogging, I appreciate the back-pat.)  Because the blog author, Hava, didn't put me on the "Top Ten Creepiest People You Meet" list and because her blog is a must read for book lovers, she is now on the Bonus Point Leader Board.  I've also added her to the blog roll.

Curious about Snap Shots?  This widget enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

Cheers.

Go Cardinals!

Project BOTLOS!!

Big Ol' Time Line O' Science

Last Update: 1/26/09 with contributions from Letters from Lausanne and Rocket Scientist.

In order to get a sense for the arc of history for writing my novel, I decided to make a timeline of significant people and events (mostly scientific, but not exclusively). I'm sure there are existing time lines available that are far more complete (and accurate?!)  but it was a wonderful exercise for me to build my own.  My goal was to appreciate the historic back drop of Cambridge University of the late 1800s.  But as I continued to read and research, the timeline project grew.

And now I'd like to enlist your help to put some meat on these bones.  The timeline is very heavy in European science, heavy in physics, especially around the late 19th century.   It also has more holes than Swiss cheese.  I invite you to submit items of that have significant scientific implications  and corrections too.  I won't even mention the tremendous Bonus Point potential here (oops, I just mentioned it!).  Discussions around historical figures and events are more than welcome.   Comment here, or, if you're feeling fiesty, head over to the BOTLOS Boxing Ring for some more debate about the history of science.   I keep a full stock of metaphoric rotten vegetables at the boxing ring to hurl at one another.  

Some items on this timeline are fictional and specific to my novel.  I'm including them here to help me keep things straight.  

  

Date	Item
560 BC	Pythagorus born
530 BC	Pythagorus founded school of philosophy in Croton, Italy.
480 BC	Pythagorus died
460 BC	Hippocrates born
384 BC	Aristotle born (his philosophy governed thinking for almost 2000 years )
370 BC	Hippocrates died
367 BC	Aristotle joined Plato’s Academy
347 BC	Plato died
322 BC	Aristotle died
287 BC	Archimedes born (buoyancy, digits of pi, grains of sand that would fill the universe)
276 BC	Eratosthenes born
248 BC	Date(?) Eratosthenes first accurately measured the circumference of the earth, by determining that there was a difference of 7 1/4 degree between Alexandria and Syene in a distance over land of about 500 miles, leads to an estimated circumference of the earth of 24,500 miles. Actual circumference is 24,840 miles
212 BC	Archimedes died
194 BC	Eratosthenes died
190 BC	Hipparchus born
120 BC	Hipparchus died.
3 BC	Jesus born (date?)
33 AD	Jesus died (date?)
70 AD	Romans arrive in Chester, England
100	Ptolemy born, codified the epicycles in to explain motions of stars and planets.
150	Approximate publication of Almagest by Ptolemy.  Became the astronomy text for the next 1500 years.
170	Ptolemy died
280	Romans depart England, British regain control
859	Al-Karaouine founded in Fes, Morocco.  World’s oldest continually operating university.
875	Bridge across River Cam built
936	Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi born, father of modern surgery.
1013	Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi died.
1066	The Normans invade England and defeat the English at Hastings
1086	Doomsday survey compiled, the first great census of the land
1087	William I dies, William Rufus becomes king of England
1088	University of Bologna, Italy founded.  Oldest university in the western world.
1135	Convent of St Radegund founded (eventually the site of Jesus College)
1200	Elyon College founded (?).  Sir Joseph Germaine III was the first Master of Elyon
1205	Theodoric Borgognoni born, leading medieval surgeon,  pioneer of antiseptic
1209	Cambridge founded
1231	Henry III issued 3 writs to promote security and privileges of scholars with respect to the town.  One writ gave chancellor and masters the power to act as a legal corporation.
1284	Peterhouse founded
1296	Theodoric Borgognoni died.
1317	Kings Hall founded by Edwards II
1318	Cambridge confirmed as a studium generale  by a June 9 papal bull
1324	Michaelhouse founded
1326	Clare College founded
1337	Kings Hall refounded by Edwards III
1347	Pembroke founded
1349	The Black Death, bubonic plague kills half the population of some towns
1374	John of Dunwich is chancellor of Cambridge
1381	Townsmen attack university (town vs. gown)
1401	Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury inspected the university
1417	Council of Constance ended the Great Schism of having two popes.
1433	Pope Eugenius IV issued a bull made Cambridge masters free of ecclesiastical jurisdiction
1436	Gutenberg invented the printing press.
1473	Copernicus born in Poland
1491	Copernicus enters University of Cracow.
1496	Copernicus goes to University of Bologna in Italy
1499	Bubonic plague in Europe
1500	Copernicus observes his first lunar eclipse and made observations
1502	John Fisher is 1st Lady Margaret Professor of divinity.
1506	Erasmus first came to Cambridge, was a leader of the northern renaissance.
1509	King Henry VIII, Tudor
1511	St John's founded, Cambridge
1514	Andreas Vesalius born, founder of modern anatomy.
1516	Erasmus, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, works on his translation of the Greek New Testament and on textbooks which were to become the staple of the ‘new learning’. His work led to him being considered the most important scholar of the Northern Renaissance.
1517	Start of reformation by Luther, he nails his 95 theses to thedoor of the Wittenberg church.
1520	Printing began at Cambridge (date?)
1521	Fire destroys much of Clare College
1527	John Dee  born
1530	Great Gate built, part of Kings Hall, added to Trinity
	Bookseller Sygar Nicholson was convicted of holding “protestant opinions” and heretical books which were burned “
1534	Anglican Church founded
1535	John Fisher hung for denying royal supremacy
1543	Copernicus died
1545	John Dee gets Bachelors from St. John’s college
1546	Trinity founded by Henry VIII (combined Michaelhouse and Kings Hall)
	John Dee is one of the original Fellows of Trinity
	Tycho Brahe born
1547	King Edward VI, Tudor
1548	Emmanuel college founded with chapel defiantly facing north, rather than east.
1551	William Bill Master of Trinity
	Flu Epidemic
1553	Queen Mary I, Tudor
1556	Commission set up to seek out heresy, search made of college rooms, stationers’ premises and private houses for heretical books.
1558	Queen Elizabeth I, Tudor
1564	Shakespeare born
	Christopher Marlowe born in Canterbury
	John Calvin died
	Trinity accounts for ¼ of Cambridge’s student population
	Andreas Vesalius died
1566	Thomas Gresham founded the Royal Exchange
1567	Chapel Built
1571	Johannes Kepler born
1577	Sir Francis Drake leaves to circumnavigate the globe (returns 1580)
1580	Christopher Marlowe attends Corpus Christi College until 1587
1583	John Dee leaves Trinity for Bohemia
1584	Cambridge Univ Press founded
1587	Christopher Marlowe is awarded MA from Corpus Christi
1588	Spanish Armada attacks but is defeated by England (supposedly with magical aid of Dee)
	Isaac Beeckman born, early contributor to the idea of “atomism”
1591	Trinity College Dublin founded.
1593	Thomas Nevile is Master of Trinity
	Christopher Marlowe disappears (dies????)
1596	Sidney Sussex college founded with chapel defiantly facing north, rather than east.
	Rene Descartes born
1601	Tycho Brahe died
1603	King James I
1607	Jamestown founded
1608	John Dee died
1609	Kepler published Astronomia Nova (The New Astronomy)
1616	Shakespeare died
1620	Mayflower crosses Atlantic Ocean
1625	John Milton enters Christ’s college
	King Charles I
1627	John Harvard enters Emmanuel college
	Robert Boyle born,
1630	Johannes Kepler died
1633	June 22 Galileo before inquisition for asserting the earth revolves around the sun
1637	Isaac Beeckman died.
1642	December 25th, Newton born (God’s gift to the scientific world), at Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England
	Galileo died
	English Civil War (Parliamentarians vs. Royalists)
1650	Rene Descartes died.
1654	Louis XIV crowned king of France
1660	King Charles II restored to the throne
	RSL founded, initial group includes Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, Sir Robert Moray, William Brouncker
	Geoffrey Spence master of Elyon
1661	Newton comes to Trinity at age 19
1662	John Pearson Master of Trinity
	William Viscount Brouncker president of RSL
1663	Henry Lucas is first Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
	June 22, The Holy Office in Rome forces Galileo Galilei to recant his scientific view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe.
1664	The Great Plague in Europe
	Newton elected “scholar” at Trinity, frees him from his previous menial duties that he had to perform to pay for tuition.  As scholar, Newton has guaranteed financial support.
1665	Cambridge closes temporarily due to Bubonic Plague, Newton returns to Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire
	Apple fell on Newton (Apocryphal?)
	Newton gets BA
1666	Great London Fire
1667	Newton becomes Fellow at Trinity
1669	Newton becomes second Lucasian Professor of Mathematics, replaces Isaac Barrow.
1672	Newton elected to RSL
1673	Isaac Barrow is Master of Trinity
1675	Royal Observatory at Greenwich founded by King Charles II
1676	Newton writes to his enemy Robert Hooke, “If I have seen farther, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
1677	Isaac Barrow died
	Sir Joseph Williamson president of RSL
1678	Newton invented calculus (likely at the same time as Wilhelm Leibniz)
	Newton suffered a severe mental break down over a theory of color battle with the English Jesuits
1679	Uncharacteristically, Newton begins to delve into the disreputable field of alchemy.  A blot on his academic escutcheon.
1680	Sir Christopher Wren president of RSL
1682	Newton established F=GxMxm/d2
	Sir John Hoskins president of RSL
1683	John Montagu, Master of Trinity
	Sir Cyril Wyche president of RSL
1684	Samuel Pepys president of RSL
	Infamous gathering of three RSL members Robert Hooke, Edmond Halley, Christopher Wren to discuss the inverse-square law governing the motions of planets.
1685	King James II
1686	John, Earl of Carbery president of RSL
	William Whiston entered Clare College
1687	Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica published by Newton, 500 copies of the first edition were published.
1689	Thomas, Earl of Pembroke president of RSL
	King William III and Mary II
1690	Sir Robert Southwell president of RSL
1691	William Whiston elected Fellow at Clare
	Robert Boyle died.
1693	Newton suffers another nervous breakdown, withdrew from RSL until Hooke’s death out of spite and hatred.
1695	Nevile’s court completed at Trinity
	Trinity Library by Sir Christopher Wren built
	Charles Montagu president of RSL
1696	Newton ends Trinity tenure
1698	John, Lord Somers president of RSL
1700	Richard Bently is Master of Trinity
	Robert Bernoulli born
1701	Great Britain formed as a union of Scotland and England
1702	William Whiston is 3rd Lucasian Professor of Mathematics
	Chair of chemistry endowed by university
1703	Newton president of RSL
1705	Newton knighted by Queen Anne.
1707	Leonhard Pual Euler born.
1714	King George I
	Board of Longitude established by parliament, offered a prize of 20,000 pounds to anyone who could determine longitude at sea to within ½ degree
1726	Geologist James Hutton born
1727	March, Newton died
	Newton’s library (and his Principia text) was sold to John Huggins, Warden of the Fleet Prison for his son, Charles, Rector of Chinnor, near Oxford
	Sir Hans Sloane president of RSL
1728	Chair of geology endowed by John Woodward
1730	Cambridge Senate House built
1735	John Harrison made clock able to be used for longitude determination at sea
1737	Luigi Galvani born (he of the “frog leg twitch” fame)
1738	John Wesley founds the Methodist movement
1741	Marin Folkes president of RSL
1742	Robert Smith Master of Trinity
1745	Britain’s last wolf killed (?)
	Alessandro Volta born.
1747	Math Tripos
1749	“Mathematical Bridge” built at Queens College
	Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace born.
1750	Thomas Postlethwaite Master of Trinity
	Charles Huggins dies in 1750, Newton’s Library books and Newton’s Principia were sold to the incoming Rector, Dr James Mugrave
	Start of Industrial Revolution (?)
1752	George, Earl of Macclesfield president of RSL
	William Whiston died
	Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar in place of the Julian, September has only 19 days. This is the last year to begin on 25th March, 1752 has only 10 months.
1756	War between Britain and France (lasts 7 years)
1760	James Watt unveils steam engine
1762	Botanical garden founded on Free School Lane (future site of Cavendish)
	Cambridge Chronicle founded (Tory leaning)
1763	John Harrison wins £20,000 for a chronometer reliable enough to calculate longitude at sea
1764	James, Earl of Morton president of RSL
1767	James Hargreaves’s spinning Jenny automated the production of light cotton yarn
1768	James Burrow president of RSL
1769	William “Strata” Smith Born
	Start (?) of industrial revolution in England
1772	Sir John Pringle president of RSL
1775	Mathematical exams given called “Tripos”
	Start of American Revolution
	André-Marie Ampère born.
1776	Decl. of independence, signatories include Cambridge alumni Thomas Nelson (Trinity), Arthur Middleton (St. John’s), Thomas Lynch (Gonville),
	April 1, Sophie Germain is born (died June 27, 1831)
1777	Hans Christian Ørsted born.
1778	Sir Joseph Banks became president of RSL
1782	Robert Bernoulli died.
1783	Man’s first flight, the Montgolfier brothers send a servant up in a hot air balloon (?)
	Leonhard Euler died
1785	Statutes printed
	Times of London starts printing its newspaper
	James Hutton shows John Playfair the angular unconformity at Siccar Point in Scotland.
1787	French revolution begins.  Lasts 22 years with climax in 1789.
1788	Steam engines fully operable
	James Hutton published “Theory of the Earth” with the construct that the past operated under present processes (uniformitarianism) with gradual, infinitesimal changes.
	Petty Cury, first street in Cambridge, paved
1789	George Simon Ohm born.
1791	Delambre and Mechain begin to survey the Paris meridian to determine the length of a meter (one ten millionth the length of a quarter arc of the earth)
1793	Napoleonic wars (in three phases 1793-1802, 1806-1814, 1815)
1797	James Hutton died
	Geologist Charles Lyell born
1798	Luigi Galvani died.
1799	Henry Brougham at RSL
1800	Early part of 1800s the industrial revolution occurs in Britain and British empire
1803	First steam powered locomotive built by Richard Trevithick
1804	Napolean takes the throne
1805	Byron Enters Trinity
1807	Trading of slaves abolished
	London’s Geologic Society founded
1806	Augustus de Morgan born
1811	Charles Babbage enters Cambridge
1812	Charles Babbage begins work on calculating machine (earliest computer) and difference engine
1813	The East India Company lost its monopoly of trade with India
1815	Battle of Waterloo
	The Hundred Days War
	William “Strata” Smith published geologic map of England.
1816	Examination for civil law appeared at Cambridge
	Sophie Germain won French Academy of Science’s prize in mathematics
	June 22, Edward Groves born (died ???)
1820	William Hyde Wollaston president of RSL
	Sir Humphry Davy president of RSL
	Dr. Gideon Mantell discovers giant dinosaur tooth in the Cuckfield quarry in southern England.
	Cambridge Apostles founded, initially called the Cambridge Conversazione Society
1821	Arthur Caley born
1822	Cambridge Observatory built west of Cambridge
	Luis Pasteur born.
	Gregor Johann Mendel born.
1823	Augustus de Morgan enters Trinity
1824	Classical tripos first offered
	William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin born.
	Portland Cement developed by Joseph Aspdin
1825	New Court Built at Trinity
1827	1st cricket matches at Cambridge, first match with Oxford occurred
	Davies Gilbert president of RSL
	Alessandro Volta died.
	Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace died.
1828	Offices of University Librarian & Protobibliothecarius merged
	Charles Babbage becomes the Lucasian Professor.
1829	Thomas Chriton born (died ???)
	First boat race between Cambridge and Oxford (won by Ox.)
1830	H.R.H Duke of Sussex president of RSL
	Beginning of the railway age
	Geologist Charles Lyell published Principles of Geology
1831	James Clerk Maxwell born
	June 27, Sophie Germain dies (born April 1, 1776)
	December 27, Darwin sails on Beagle (from Christ’s College)
	December 27, Robin Louis Baack is born (died ???)
	Faraday’s electrical current
1833	Robin Louis Baack publishes first book
	Factory owners obliged to provide schooling for workers aged 9 to 13 (two hours per day)
1834	Edward Groves becomes a colleague of Robin Louis Baack
	October 15th, Robin Louis Baack is knighted, becomes Sir Robin Louis Baack
	October 16th, Palace of Westminster burns to the ground
	Slavery abolished in Britain and its colonies
	Workhouses created by the poor law act
1836	André-Marie Ampère died.
1837	The pillory abolished as punishment
1838	Arthur Cayley enters Trinity
	Joshua Alwyne Compton president of RSL
	Edwin Abbott Abbott born (Flatland)
1839	The Electric Telegraph devised by Charles Wheatstone
	Photography invented (simultaneously by Daguerre in France and Fox Talbot in England)
	William “Strata” Smith died
1840	Edward Groves disassociates from Sir Robin Louis Baack, falls from academic heights to lowly “shepherd” status
1841	Edward VII born (eldest son of Queen Victoria)
1842	Arthur Cayley graduated Senior Wrangler
	Cambridge Mathematical Journal 1st published, edited by Duncan Gregory
1843	Theological tripos offered
	The Morse Code introduced to improve the electric telegraph
1844	Working hours of children (aged 8 to 13) reduced to 6½ hours per day
	New Botanical Garden opened, moved from Free School Lane
1845	Potato crop fails (1845 to 1849), famine in Ireland, many Irish come to Cheshire
	Arthur Cayley becomes a fellow of Trinity
1846	First practical sewing machine patented by Elias Howe
1848	William Parsons president of RSL
1849	George Stokes is 13th Lucasian Professor
1850	441 matriculations in Cambridge
	Royal Commission established to reform universities
	Telegraph cable laid across the English Channel
1851	Natural Science Tripos
	Foucault Pendulum demonstration proves earth’s rotation
	Hans Christian Ørsted died.
	George Simon Ohm died.
1852	Botanical garden converted to site to house science buildings
1854	John, Lord Wrottesley president of RSL
	Cigarettes introduced into the UK
1856	Joseph John Thompson (JJ Thompson) born
	Cambridge University Act of 1856
1857	Edwin Abbott Abbott enters St. John’s College of Cambridge on scholarship
1858	Sir Benjamin Collins president of RSL
	First transatlantic telegraph cable laid
	Max Planck born.
1859	Origin of Species published by Darwin
1861	Alfred North Whitehead born
	Fellows first allowed to marry, though it was not common
1862	American Civil War  begins,  ends 1865
	Edwin Abbott Abbott becomes fellow of St. John’s
1863	Arthur Cayley appointed to Sadlerian Professor of Pure Mathematics at Cambridge
	The Lottie Sleigh, a ship carrying dynamite, blew up in the Mersey shattering many Birkenhead windows.
1865	American Civil War ends
	Edwin Abbott (Flatland) becomes headmaster of the City of London School
1866	Augustus de Morgan co-founds London Mathematical Society
1867	Marie Skłodowska-Curie born.
1868	Phillipa Garrett Fawcett born
	Public hanging abolished
1869	Girton woman’s college founded, led by Miss Davies
	Charles Thomson Rees Wilson Born (cloud chamber)
	Suez Canal opened, a shorter route to India and Australia
1870	William Cavendish endows lab (£8,450.)
	The use of stocks as a punishment is abandoned
1871	James Maxwell returns to Trinity as professor  of physics
	Earnst Rutherford born
	Augustus de Morgan died
	Students can first attend University without passing a test in religion but morning and evening prayers for Church of England still offered in college chapels.
	Newnham woman’s coll. Founded, headed by Miss Anne Jemima Clough
1873	Maxwell published magnetic & electrical work
1874	Cavendish Lab open, established on site of old Botanical Garden (Eden reference?)
1875	Newnham Hall built
	Geologist Charles Lyell died
1876	Microphone invented
	JJ Thompson admitted to Trinity as student (£75/year scholar ship, ½ went to his coach)
	Education act, universal elementary education introduced
1877	Godfrey Harold Hardy born
1878	In 1878 the Newton Library books and his NPM were transferred to Barnsley Park in Gloucestershire (owned by the Musgrave family) where they stayed for 140 years.
	Internal-combustion engine developed by Nikolaus Otto
1879	James Maxwell died
	Einstein born
	Daniel Gregory born, March 23.
	Lord Raleigh is Cav prof
	Thomas Edison inv light bulb
	Alfred North Whitehead took entrance exam for Trinity, won scholarship
	Sir Timothy Schaeffer master of Elyon College
	Teachers Training Syndicate established at Cambridge
1880	Alfred North Whitehead enters Trinity
	Edward Groves begins teaching at Yorkshire
	School attendance made compulsory up to the age of 10
	Most towns use Greenwich Mean Time
1881	1st speed of light experiment by Mickelson & Morley
1882	General Board of Faculties established for Cambridge
	First women examined at Cambridge
	Darwin died
	Selwyn opened, one of the first public hostela
	Robert Hutchings Goddard born
1883	Alfred North Whitehead took math tripos (placed 4th Wrangler)
1884	Lord Rayleigh Resigns as Cav Professor
	JJ Thompson becomes Cav prof
	Flatland is published by Edwin Abbott Abbott.
	Greenwich is adopted as the universal prime meridian, zero longitude and standard time
	Gregor Johann Mendel died.
1885	July 4, Groves first meets Daniel at age 6
	Two houses for married fellows built near Jesus College
	Hughs Hall established, initially the Woman’s Training College
	Niels Henrik David Bohr born.
1887	Miss Agnata Ramsey, student of Girton, was awarded marks above the Senior Classic but didn’t get official recognition.
1888	Kodak introduces the box camera, photography available to the masses
1890?	A number of attempts were made to provide cheap non-collegiate hostels catering for poorer students, disappeared by 1900.
	Philippa Garrett Fawcett, female student at Newnham College, scored the second highest mark in the Mathematical Tripos.  She was placed `above the Senior Wrangler’ (that is, above the top first) because women were not then eligible for the Cambridge BA degree and therefore could not be classed as Wranglers.
	Four-wheel automobile produced by Benz
1892	Daniel and Clive enter Yorkshire Preparatory School.
	Fitzwilliam House opened at Cambridge, residence for poorer students
	Sinaii palimpsest of the old testament discovered
1894	Earnst Rutherford comes to Cambridge on Exhibition Scholarship
	CTR Wilson makes cloud chamber
	Wireless telegraphy invented in Italy by Guglielmo Marconi
1895	Rutherford made wireless communication
	Arthur Caley died
	Luis Pasteur died.
	Roetgen discovers xray in Germany
1896	“A Body at Rest” begins
	Becquerel accidentally discovered radioactivity.
	Godfrey Harold Hardy enters Trinity (he was a frail boy that many kids picked on in his earlier years), he was assigned coach RR Webb who was more interested in tricks to pass the exams than learning math.
	January 4 – André Masson, French artist born (d. 1987)
	January 12 – H.L. Smith takes the first X-ray photograph.
	January 14 – Martin Niemöller, German theologian and pacifist born (d. 1984)
	January 18 – The X-ray machine is exhibited for the first time.
	February 1 – The opera La bohème premieres (Turin).
	February 14 – Arthur Milne born (d. 1950), British space physicist.
	February 18 – André Breton, French writer born (d. 1966)
	March 29 – Wilhelm Ackermann born (d. 1962), mathematician.
	April 6 – Opening ceremonies of the 1896 Summer Olympics, the first modern Olympic Games.
	May 8 – Against Warwickshire, Yorkshire sets a still-standing County Championship record when they accumulate an innings total of 887.
	June 12 – J.T. Hearne sets a record for the earliest date of taking 100 wickets. It is qualed by Charlie Parker in 1931.
	June 15 - ? Earthquake and tsunami in Sanriku, Japan, kills 27.000
	July 9 – William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of gold speech.
	August 16 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie discover gold in the Klondike.
	August 27 – The shortest war in the world – 9.02 – 9.40 between Britain and Zanzibar
	September 18 – Hippolyte Fizeau died (b. 1819), physicist.
	December 10 – Alfred Nobel, died, inventor of dynamite Nobel Prize (b. 1833)
1897	JJ Thompson discovered electron (foundation of modern physics, the beginning of the massive transformation)
1898	Hardy placed as 4th Wrangler in tripos
1899	Lytton Strachey, Leonard Woolf and Thoby Stephen meet as under-graduates at Trinity and form the nucleus of what was to become known as the Bloomsbury Group.
	Boer War begins, lasts 3 years
1900	Hardy elected Fellow at Trinity
1901	First transatlantic wireless message, Guglielmo Marconi
1902	Education Act passed by Parliament (subsidized secondary education)
1903	First successful flight by a powered aeroplane, Orville and Wilbur Wright
1904	Charles Rolls and Henry Royce start making cars
1906	JJ gets Nobel
	Henry Jackson is the Regius Professor of Greek
1907	Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India 1947-1964, enters Trinity
	William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin died
1908	Rutherford get Nobel prize in chemistry
	Ford starts mass production of his Model T
1909	Labor Exchanges Act passed by Parliament (groundwork for national health insurance)
	First flight across the English Channel (by Louis Blériot)
	Last Senior Wrangler classed at Cambridge, system of ranking Wranglers and Optimes dropped.
1910	1,191 matriculations in Cambridge
	Edward VII died
1911	Rutherford discovers nucleous
1912	Lawrence Bragg discoveredXRD
	The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, many died.
	Public telephone service introduced in the UK
	Werner von Braun born
1913	Bohr’s theory of atom
1914	WWI (2,470 members of Cambridge University killed), ended 1918
	Jonas Salk born, developer of polio vaccine
1917	Worldwide flu epidemic
	Cinema films (silent) are a popular form of entertainment
1918	The vote given to educated women over 30
	Richard Phillips Feynman born.
1919	JJ Thompson retires as Cav Prof
	Rutherford becomes Cav professor
	First state support financially due to impacts of WWI and loss of fees from veteran students.
1920	Newton’s library and NPM text sold, 859 volumes bought by Southeran and Co, including the NPM with Newton’s 1st edition with writing.
1921	E gets Nobel Prize for QM
	PhD degree introduced
1922	Radio broadcasting starts (British Broadcasting Company, funded by radio manufacturers)
1928	Women given equal voting rights with men in Britain
1929	The Wall Street Crash, October 29th, Black Tuesday, the stock market collapsed
1932	Atom split for 1st time, occurs in Cavendish Lab
1934	Marie Skłodowska-Curie died.
1935	Nicolas Bourbaki society “born” in France  http://www.ega-math.narod.ru/Bbaki/Cartier.htm
1937	Rutherford dies
1939	WWII Starts, lasts until 1945
1940	JJ Thompson dies
1943	Newton’s library and NPM text purchased by the Pilgrim Trust and presented to Trinity.
1945	A-bomb test
	Robert Hutchings Goddard died.
1947	Women can become full members of the University
	Alfred North Whitehead died
	Godfrey Harold Hardy died
	Max Planck died
1948	Phillipa Garrett Fawcett died
1953	Crick & Watson discover structure of DNA
1954	Newhall women’s  college founded
1955	Einstein died
1960	Churchill women’s college founded
1962	Niels Henrik David Bohr died.
1963	John F Kennedy assassinated in Dallas (22nd November)
1970	Prior to this date gowns were required to be worn on the streets after dark by all junior members of the university.
1969	Man lands on the moon
1974	Cavendish Lab relocates to new place in West Cambridge
1977	Robinson women’s college founded, Cambridge
	Werner von Braun died
1983	Meter redefined as not the length of France's bar of platinum, but as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 second.
1988	Richard Phillips Feynman died.