Biography
– Born in Sandwich, England
– Apprenticed to optician Matthew Loft in 1741
– Established own business at 20 Cornhill in London in 1748
– Took apprentice Thomas Blunt into partnership in 1774
– Blunt opened his own shop at 22 Cornhill in 1793
Patents and Inventions
– Patented an electrostatic generator consisting of a glass cylinder on insulators
– Device supplied positive or negative electricity for medicinal use
– Made improvements to the Cuff microscope, creating a portable chest microscope
– Constructed the first successful marine barometer with additional stability features
– Sold cubes of natural rubber as erasers, discovering rubber’s erasing properties
Contributions to Scientific Journals and Societies
– Regular contributor to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London
– Elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1776
– Corresponded with Benjamin Franklin and made instruments for him
– Elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1770
– Supplied instruments for the fire-damaged collection at Harvard University
Gallery
– Telescope by Nairne, London, late 1700s
– Nairne & Blunt barometer, ca 1780, in the collection of The Mariners Museum
References
– Nairne, Edward (1726–1806), instrument maker and natural philosopher. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
– APS Member History
– Nairne, Edward | Encyclopedia.com
– External articles: Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edward Nairne
– Nairne and Blunt Electrostatic Generator. The Bakken, June, 2004. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Nairne
This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2017) |
Edward Nairne (1726 – 1 September 1806) was an English optician and scientific instrument maker.
