henry cavendish

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Definition of henry cavendish in English English dictionary

a British scientist who discovered hydrogen and also discovered the chemical composition of water (=the different parts it is made from) (1731-1810). born Oct. 10, 1731, Nice, France died Feb. 24, 1810, London, Eng. English physicist and chemist. A millionaire by inheritance, he lived as a recluse most of his life. He discovered the nature and properties of hydrogen, the specific heat of certain substances, and various properties of electricity. He measured the density and mass of the Earth by the method now known as the Cavendish experiment. He discovered the composition of air, work that led to the discovery that water is a compound rather than an element and to the discovery of nitric acid. He anticipated Ohm's law and independently discovered Coulomb's law of electrostatic attraction. He left his fortune to relatives who later endowed the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge (1871)

{i} (1731-1810) English chemist and physicist who discovered the properties of hydrogen and demonstrated that water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen

Related Terms

William Henry Cavendish Lord Bentinck

born Sept. 14, 1774, Bulstrode, Buckinghamshire, Eng. died June 17, 1839, Paris, France British colonial administrator. Born to wealth and rank, he was appointed governor of Madras in 1803. Recalled in 1807 after a mutiny of Indian troops at Vellore, he pressed for the next 20 years for a chance to vindicate his name. In 1828 he was named governor-general of Bengal (in effect, of all India), and he served until 1835. He reformed the country's finances, opened up administrative and judicial posts to Indians, suppressed bands of assassins known as thugs, and abolished suttee. His policies helped pave the way to independence more than a century later

Hyphenation

Hen·ry Cav·en·dish

Turkish pronunciation

henri kävındîş

Pronunciation

/ˈhenrē ˈkavəndəsʜ/ /ˈhɛnriː ˈkævəndɪʃ/