David Brewster

Among his closest friends were Talbot (they corresponded in detail about Talbot’s photographic inventions), Roget (who was delighted by Brewster’s kaleidoscope), and Scott. On continental visits, he met Berthollet, Poisson, Arago, Biot, Laplace, Gay-Lussac, Pictet and de la Rive, while Gauss wrote his last-ever letter to him. Ordinarily mild, he found himself completely at odds with Whewell, Wheatstone and Fresnel. He taught Adamson the calotype process and introduced him to Hill, joined Babbage and Herschel in founding the British Association, and fell in love with his pupil, the cousin of his good friend-to-be, Somerville.