We wrote about electro hydrodynamics recently and how engineers at MIT used it to fly an aircraft without moving parts. During our research we discovered an early pioneer of electricity Francis Hauksbee the Elder. We decided to write a post for him because we like to acknowledge those who contributed to the energy that means so much to us today.
Francis Hauksbee, The Ever Inquiring Mind
Francis Hauksbee was born in 1660, in St Mary-at-the-Walls, Colchester, England and is an unsung hero of modern science. He apprenticed as a draper or retailer of cloth. We have no idea why he began making air-pumps and pneumatic engines in 1701. Certainly his inquiring mind was sufficient to qualify as Isaac Newton’s assistant.
In 1703, he presented a new air pump to the Royal Society in London. This used the phenomenon of ‘mercurial phosphorus,’ in other words a kind of electrostatic discharge. Francis Hauksbee the Elder dedicated the rest of his life to exploring the new exciting phenomenon, electricity. Remember, he was in a world where there were no textbooks or tables of elements to follow.
‘A Weak Wind Blowing’ from Electro Hydrodynamics
Francis Hauksbee the Elder wrote up his discoveries in a book you can read here In it, he describes how “he experienced a weak wind blowing when holding a charge tube close to him,” according to researchers.
Can you help us find the reference to this among his quaint spelling because we would love to read it there. Especially since researchers Emmanouil D. Fylladitakis, Michael P. Theodoridis, and Antonios X. Moronis suggest this was the first observation of electro hydrodynamics energy ever.
This could make Francis Hauksbee a very early pioneer in alternative energy propulsion.
He continued tinkering with the frontiers of energy for the rest of his life, because this was his calling until he passed on in 1713 aged 53. In 2010, the Royal Society rewarded “unsung heroes of science, technology, engineering and mathematics” with a series of Hauksbee Awards. We like to believe his brilliant mind smiled down benignly from above.
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