John Bevis

John Bevis
FRS
Born(1695-11-10)10 November 1695
Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
Died6 November 1771(1771-11-06) (aged 75)

John Bevis (10 November 1695 – 6 November 1771) FRS was an English medical doctor, electrical researcher and astronomer. He is best known for discovering the Crab Nebula in 1731. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, being awarded his B.A. in 1715 and his M.A. in 1718.[1]

In 1757 Bevis published in London a volume on The History and Philosophy of Earthquakes in which he collected accounts of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake from diverse authentic sources. His survey, the first of its kind, was subsequently used by John Michell (1761).[2]

A watercolour painting showing the exterior of Bagnigge Wells spa
A watercolour of Bagnigge Wells by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm

In 1757 Bevis was asked by the tobacconist Thomas Hughes to discover why no flowers would grow in his garden at Bagnigge House, which stood in the vicinity of 61–63 King's Cross Road, London. He found the water from the well on the site to be full of iron. On this research, a second well was dug, the water from which was found to be a good purgative. This led to the establishment of one of the most popular 18th-century spas, Bagnigge Wells, the following year.[3] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in November, 1765.[4]

  1. ^ Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  2. ^ Ben-Menahem, Ari (August 1995). "'A Concise History of Mainstream Seismology: Origins, Legacy, and Perspectives'" (PDF). Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America Vol. 85, No. 4. pp. 1202–1225. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  3. ^ The London Encyclopaedia p. 32.
  4. ^ "Library and Archive catalogue". Royal Society. Retrieved 14 December 2010.[permanent dead link]