John Pringle Nichol

thumb|John Pringle Nichol

thumb|John Pringle Nichol

John Pringle Nichol FRSE FRAS (13 January 1804 – 19 September 1859) was a Scottish educator, phrenologist, astronomer and economist who did much to popularise astronomy in a manner that appealed to nineteenth century tastes.

Early life

Born at Huntly Hill, near Brechin, Angus, Nichol was the son of John Nichol from Northumberland, a gentleman farmer, and his wife Jane Forbes from Ellon, Aberdeenshire. He was educated at the local grammar school and then studied mathematics and natural philosophy (physics) at King's College, University of Aberdeen. He then changed to study divinity. He was licensed as a preacher and became a highly effective communicator, but the impact of phrenological thinking led him to abandon the Church for education.

Nichol held a number of posts in education and journalism and corresponded with many leading thinkers of the times, including John Stuart Mill. He clearly made some impression in economics as James Mill and Nassau Senior nominated him as Jean-Baptiste Say's successor as professor of political economy at the Collège de France though he was at the time too ill to take the post.

Nichol turned to popular lecturing and authored a number of popular and successful books about astronomy, especially championing the nebular hypothesis. In 1841 George Eliot wrote:

Nichol was a member of the Edinburgh Phrenological Society.

During the late 1840s, his health declined and, stemming from his physician's prescription, Nichol became addicted to opiates. He recorded an account of his drug-addiction illness and its cure by hydrotherapy at the Ben Rhydding Hydro in his book Memorials from Ben Rhydding (1852).

He died at Glenburn House in Rothesay but is buried in Grange Cemetery in south Edinburgh.

Notes

Bibliography

• (American edition, expanded with notes and glossary)
• — (1856) General Principles in Geology, the preface to Keith Johnston's Physical Atlas 2nd edition.

Obituaries

• Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 19 (1858–9), 141; 20 (1859–60), 131;
• The Times, 23 September 1859, 10b