Early Life and Education
– Born in Cofforach, Forfarshire
– Son of an old Scottish aristocratic family
– Traveled to Regensburg, Bavaria at the age of 12
– Studied at the Benedictine Scottish Monastery
– Completed a 5-year general education course in Regensburg
Career as a Professor
– Enrolled as a novice in the monastery in 1732
– Studied scholastic philosophy under Gallus Leith
– Completed theological disputation with the Dominican Iselbrecher
– Became a professor of philosophy at the University of Erfurt
– Acquired considerable reputation for works on electricity
Contributions to Electricity
– Wrote works on electricity, including ‘Phaenomena electricitatis exposita’ (1744)
– Invented a glass cylinder frictional machine
– Invented the electrical whirl, a light metallic star
– Invented the electric chimes
– Both inventions described in his work ‘Versuch einer Erklarung der Electricitat’ (1745)
Notable Inventions
– Glass cylinder frictional machine replaced von Guericke’s sulphur ball and Newton’s glass globe
– Electrical whirl was the earliest electrostatic reaction motor
– Electric chimes were adopted by Benjamin Franklin for his lightning rod
– Theoretical importance of electric chimes as the first instance of electric convection
– Inventions used to be described in textbooks of electricity
Legacy and References
– Died in Erfurt, Saxony
– Listed in the ‘List of Roman Catholic scientist-clerics’
– References: Tom McInally’s book ‘The Sixth Scottish University: The Scots Colleges Abroad: 1575 to 1799’ (2011)
– Article in the Catholic Encyclopedia edited by Charles Herbermann (1913)
– Text from the article is now in the public domain Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Gordon_(Benedictine)
Andrew Gordon (15 June 1712 – 22 August 1751) was a Scottish Benedictine monk, physicist and inventor. He made the first electric motor.
