Hauksbee, Francis, The Younger

▪ British scientist

born 1687

died Jan. 11, 1763

      English instrument maker, scientist, and lecturer. He may have been a son of Francis Hauksbee the Elder.

      As early as about 1714 Hauksbee began giving lectures, with demonstrating experiments. By 1723 he had secured a sufficient reputation to be elected clerk and housekeeper to the Royal Society, Britain's major scientific society. Meanwhile he had established a manufactory in Fleet Street, where he made and sold air pumps, hydrostatic balances, and reflecting telescopes. Over the years he authored or coauthored a number of treatises dealing with such subjects as laboratory methods, chemistry, astronomical instruments, electricity, and pneumatics.

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