The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) was founded in London in 1826 as a nonprofit publication house to publish information to people who could not obtain formal teaching. Shortly after the group’s founding, a Map Committee was formed. Led by Captain Francis Beaufort, the esteemed Hydrographer of the Navy and expert in nautical charting, the mapping project of the SDUK began producing atlases arranged by country and region.
Mary Somerville (26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary Members of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Mary Somerville (26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835, she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary Members of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Thomas Sprat (bap. 1635, d. 1713) wrote the first account of the Royal Society, an organisation that promoted the advancement of science in England. He was not, however, a natural philosopher, but a literary writer and preacher, who rose to the deanship of Westminster and later the bishopric of Rochester.