John Michell, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

John Michell

English philosopher

Date of Birth: 25-Dec-1724

Place of Birth: England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 21-Apr-1793

Profession: astronomer, physicist, geologist, university teacher, philosopher

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

John Michell (; 25 December 1724 – 21 April 1793) was an English natural philosopher and clergyman who provided pioneering insights in a wide range of scientific fields, including astronomy, geology, optics, and gravitation.
Considered "one of the greatest unsung scientists of all time", he was the first person known to propose the existence of black holes in publication, the first to suggest that earthquakes travel in waves, the first to explain how to manufacture artificial magnets, and the first to apply statistics to the study of the cosmos, recognizing that double stars were a product of mutual gravitation.
He also invented an apparatus to measure the mass of the Earth.
He has been called both the father of seismology and the father of magnetometry. According to one science journalist, "a few specifics of Michell's work really do sound like they are ripped from the pages of a twentieth century astronomy textbook." The American Physical Society (APS) has described Michell as being "so far ahead of his scientific contemporaries that his ideas languished in obscurity, until they were re-invented more than a century later".
The APS states that while "he was one of the most brilliant and original scientists of his time, Michell remains virtually unknown today, in part because he did little to develop and promote his own path-breaking ideas".