Francis Hauksbee (1666-1713)

Born: 1660

Death: 1713

Biography:

Francis Hauksbee the Elder FRS (1660–1713), also known as Francis Hawksbee , was an 18th-century English scientist best known for his work on electricity and electrostatic repulsion . He was baptized on 27 May 1660 in the parish of St Mary-at-the-Walls, Colchester. [1] From at least March 1701, he lived at Giltspur Street, where he made air-pumps and pneumatic engines. [1] The transition from drapery to scientific instrumentation and experimentation is not well documented. [1] Historians have had to speculate about the events that lead to Hauksbee engagement with the Royal Society. Hauksbee became Isaac Newton's lab assistant. He became a member of the Royal Society on 30 November 1703. [3] On 15 December 1703, he made his first experimental demonstration to the Society (a new air-pump and the phenomenon of ‘mercurial phosphorus,’ a k....