James Ferguson, Scottish Astronomer
James Ferguson (April 25,1710 - November 17, 1776) was a Scottish astronomer and instrument maker, After his father taught him to write, he was sent to the grammar school for three months and that was all the formal education he ever received. In 1720 he was sent to a neighboring farm to keep sheep, where he amused himself by making models of machines, and at night he studied the stars. In 1734 he went to Edinburgh, where he began to make portraits in miniature to himself and his family for many years. He wrote papers for the Royal Society of London, devised astronomical and mechanical models, and in 1748 began to give public lectures on experimental philosophy. His passion for his subject, his clear explanations with diagrams, made him one of the most successful of popular lecturers on scientific subjects. He is best remembered as inventor and improver of astronomical and other scientific apparatus. He died in 1776 at the age of 66.
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