Page:Lectures on Ten British Physicists of the Nineteenth Century.djvu/90



Author:William Whewell was born at Lancaster, England, on May 24, 1794. His father was a master carpenter and had several children. William was educated first at the grammar school of his native town, and was afterwards sent to that at Heversham in order to qualify for an Exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge. The winning of this exhibition of 50 was his first scholastic success. At these schools great attention was paid to classical studies, including versification in both Latin and Greek, and he also received a good start in mathematics. He entered Trinity College in October, 1812. The Analytical Society was then in existence and he became one of the group which met on Sunday mornings to breakfast and to discourse on philosophical subjects. One of the principal honors which he gained in his undergraduate career was the Chancellor's medal for the best poem on Boadicea, in the course of which he celebrates the praises of beauty:

Whewell did not concentrate his attention exclusively on the subjects of the final examination, but he came out second wrangler. The next year (1817) he won a fellowship, took