Whewell, William
Whewell, William (1794–1866). Polymath, historian and philosopher of science, and Cambridge reformer, Whewell came from Lancashire where his father was a carpenter. At Cambridge with John Herschel he reformed the mathematics courses; at Trinity College he served as tutor, professor of mineralogy, professor of moral philosophy, and finally master. His study of Kant made him unhappy with the prevailing understanding of science, going back to Francis Bacon. Whewell believed that in science an intuitive leap must be associated with careful induction, and used this insight to display the history of science as a matter of finding the appropriate fundamental ideas in the various sciences. He believed that God's existence could not be proved, but that science could deepen and refine faith. Involved in numerous scientific bodies, he was greatly respected; but Sydney Smith said that science was his forte, omniscience his foible.
David Knight
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Whewell, William
