William Hyde Wollaston

William Hyde Woolaston

1766 (East Dereham, England) – 1828 (Chislehurst)

Wollaston has several claims to fame as a scientist. Davy was a close colleague in some of his experiments, Faraday silently observing (and later denying Wollaston any credit for his work anticipating the electric motor). Herschel, a correspondent like Haüy, was enthusiastic about Wollaston’s camera lucida; Talbot’s frustration with it however led to his own pioneering photographic work (Wollaston also demonstrated spectrographic dark lines to him). Scott diplomatically invited the two keen anglers Davy and Wollaston, putative rivals for the Royal Society presidency after Banks’ death, to fish at Abbottsford. Babbage, a friend, moved into Wollaston’s house after his own death.