Introduction
William Gilbert (1544–1603), physician and natural philosopher, is remembered today almost entirely for De magnete, magneticisque corporibus, et de magno magnete tellure (1600), arguably the first natural-philosophical treatise produced in seventeenth-century England.
Gilbert’s Intellectual Biography
Born in Colchester, Essex, Gilbert received his B.A. in 1561, his M.A. in 1564, and an M.D. in 1569, all from St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he was appointed Senior Fellow shortly after graduation. He moved to London in the early 1570s, where he established a successful medical practice; in 1581, he entered the Royal College of Physicians and became its president in 1600. The same year, he was appointed physician to Elizabeth I (1533–1603) and, after Elizabeth’s death in March 1603, to James I (1566–1625). Shortly before his own death (most likely from plague) in November 1603, Gilbert donated his books and instruments to the Royal College of Physicians, which was...
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References
Primary Literature
Gilbert W (1600) De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure, Physiologia Nova. Peter Short, London
Gilbert W (1651) De Mundo Nostro Sublunari Philosophia Nova. Ludovicum Elzevirium, Amsterdam
Secondary Literature
Freudenthal G (1983) Theory of matter and cosmology in William Gilbert’s De magnete. Isis 74:22–37
Henry J (2001) Animism and empiricism: Copernican physics and the origins of William Gilbert’s experimental method. J Hist Ideas 62:99–119
Hesse MB (1960a) Gilbert and the historians (I). Br J Philos Sci 11:1–10
Hesse MB (1960b) Gilbert and the historians (II). Br J Philos Sci 11:130–142
Kelly S (1965) The De mundo of William Gilbert. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Miller DM (2014) Non est motus omnino: Gilbert, verticity, and the law of the whole. In: Miller DM (ed) Representing space in the scientific revolution. University Printing House, Cambridge, pp 64–88
Pumfrey S (1989a) Magnetical philosophy and astronomy, 1600–1650. In: Taton R, Wilson C (eds) Plantary astronomy from the renaissance to the rise of astrophysics. University Printing House, Cambridge, pp 45–53
Pumfrey S (1989b) ‘O tempora, O magnes!’ a sociological analysis of the discovery of secular magnetic variation in 1634. Br J Hist Sci 22:181–214
Pumfrey S (2002) William Gilbert. In: Harman P, Mitton S (eds) Cambridge scientific minds. University Printing House, Cambridge, pp 6–20
Roller DHD (1959) The De magnete of William Gilbert. Menno Hertzberger, Amsterdam
Suter R (1952) A biographical sketch of Dr. William Gilbert of Colchester. Osiris 10:368–384
Zilsel E (1941) The origins of William Gilbert’s scientific method. J Hist Ideas 2:1–31
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Georgescu, L. (2019). Gilbert, William. In: Jalobeanu, D., Wolfe, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Early Modern Philosophy and the Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20791-9_441-1
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