Isaac Milner

Isaac Milner
Isaac Milner (1750–1820)
Born(1750-01-11)11 January 1750
Mabgate, Leeds, England
Died1 April 1820(1820-04-01) (aged 70)
Cambridge, England
NationalityEnglish
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge
Known forChemical production of nitrous acid
RelativesJoseph Milner (brother)
Scientific career
FieldsMathematician and chemist
InstitutionsUniversity of Cambridge

Isaac Milner FRS (11 January 1750 – 1 April 1820) was a mathematician, an inventor, the President of Queens' College, Cambridge and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics.[1]

He was instrumental in the 1785 religious conversion of William Wilberforce and helped him through many trials and was a great supporter of the abolitionists' campaign against the slave trade, steeling Wilberforce with his assurance before the 1789 parliamentary debate:

If you carry this point in your whole life, that life will be better spent than in being prime minister of many years.[2]

He was also a natural philosopher and the Dean of Carlisle.

  1. ^ "Lucasian Chair". Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
  2. ^ BBC Radio 4 In our Time, Feb 22 2007