Henry cavendish invention

Henry Cavendish was the grandson of the 2nd Duke of Devonshire. His father Lord Charles, the brother of the 3rd Duke, was a known scientist in his own right and a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Henry followed in his father’s footsteps, making investigations in many scientific areas including gases, electricity, magnetism, heat, geology, astronomy and optics.

During his lifetime, Henry was well-known for his work on gases (he discovered hydrogen), ascertaining that water was a compound of gases, and for determining the mass of the Earth.

Cavendish one piece

After his death, his papers revealed the extent of his genius, leading to a comparison with Newton.

Despite being examined by other scientists after his death and used in some biographies, Henry’s papers are largely uncatalogued.

This means, they are not fully listed in our archival catalogues and are therefore inaccessible to researchers, and difficult to interrogate.

For this project, we will go through each page and item, work out what each docu