John Robison (physicist)
John Robison | |
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Edinburgh University | |
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Residential Member of the Edinburgh Philosophical Society Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1783) Member of the Glasgow Literary Society |
John Robison
A member of the Edinburgh Philosophical Society when it received its royal warrant, he was appointed as the first general secretary to the
Biography
The son of John Robison, a Glasgow merchant, he was born in Boghall,
Subsequently, he settled in Glasgow engaging in the
In 1769, he announced that balls with like electrical charges repel each other with a force that varies as the inverse-square of the distance between them, anticipating Coulomb's law of 1785.[4]
In 1770 he travelled to
Robison worked with
Robison did however invent the
Proofs of a Conspiracy
Towards the end of his life he published Proofs of a Conspiracy in 1797, alleging clandestine intrigue by the
It was not my intention to doubt that, the Doctrines of the Illuminati, and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more truly satisfied of this fact than I am. The idea that I meant to convey, was, that I did not believe that the Lodges of Free Masons in this Country had, as Societies, endeavoured to propagate the diabolical tenets of the first, or pernicious principles of the latter (if they are susceptible of separation). That Individuals of them may have done it, or that the founder, or instrument employed to found, the Democratic Societies in the United States, may have had these objects; and actually had a separation of the People from their Government in view, is too evident to be questioned.[8]
Modern conspiracy theorists, such as
Works
- Outlines of Mechanical philosophy: Containing the Heads of a Course of Lectures, Edinburgh, William Creech, 1781.
- Outlines of a Course of Experimental Philosophy, Edinburgh, William Creech, 1784.
- Outlines of a Course of Lectures on Mechanical Philosophy, Edinburgh, J. Brown, 1803.
- Elements of Mechanical Philosophy: Being the Substance of a Course of Lectures on that Science,[10] Edinburgh, Archibald Constable, 1804.
- Robison contributed well over forty articles to the third edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1797) and its supplement, including: Resistance of Fluids, Roof, Running of Rivers, Seamanship, Telescope and Water-works.[11]
- A System of Mechanical Philosophy,[12]
- Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the Secret Meetings of Free-Masons, Illuminati and Reading Societies, etc., collected from good authorities, Edinburgh, 1797; 2nd ed. London, T. Cadell & W. Davies, 1797 with a Postscript; 3rd ed. with Postscript, Philadelphia, T. Dobson & W. Cobbet, 1798; 4th ed., G. Forman, New York, 1798; Dublin 1798; Proofs of a Conspiracy, Western Islands, 1900; The Illuminati, taken from "Proofs of a world conspiracy", Elizabeth Knauss [1930]; Proof's [sic!] of a Conspiracy, Ram Reprints, 1964; Proofs of a conspiracy, Boston, Western Islands, "The Americanist Classics", [1967]; Proofs of a Conspiracy, Islands Press, 1978; C P a Book Pub, 2002 ISBN 978-1999357-35-1.
- Ueber geheime Gesellschaften und deren Gefährlichkeit für Staat und Religion... translated in German, Königslutter, 1800.
- [Anti-Jacobin], New Lights on Jacobinism, abstracted from Professor Robison's History of Free Masonry, with an appendix containing an account of Voltaire's behaviour on his death-bed, and a letter from J. H. Stone to Dr. Priestley, disclosing the principles of Jacobinism. By the author of Jacobinism Displayed, Birmingham, E. Piercy, Birmingham, 1798.
- William Bentley & John Bacon, Extracts from Professor Robison's "Proofs of a Conspiracy" & c., with Brief Reflections on the Charges he has Exhibited, the Evidence he has Produced and the Merit of his Performance, Boston, Manning & Loring, Boston, 1799.
- Abraham Bishop, Proofs of a Conspiracy, Against Christianity, and the Government of the United States, J. Babcock, 1802.
- Seth Payson, Proofs of the Real Existence, and Dangerous Tendency, of Illuminism, Containing an Abstract of what Dr. Robinson and the Abbé Barruel have Published on this Subject; with Collateral Proofs and General Observations, Charlestown, 1802 [reprinted by Invisible College Press, LLC, 2003]. ISBN 1-931468-14-1
- Henry Dana Ward, Free Masonry. Its Pretensions Exposed in Faithful Extracts of its Standard Authors; with a Review of Town's Speculative Masonry; its Liability to Pervert the Doctrines of Revealed Religion, Discovered in the Spirit of its Doctrines, and in the Application of its Emblems: its Dangerous Tendency Exhibited in Extracts from the Abbé Barruel and Professor Robison, and Further Illustrated in its Base Service to the Illuminati, New York, 1828.
See also
- Augustin Barruel, author of "Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism" (1797)
- Lorenzo Hervás, author of "Causes of the French Revolution" (1807)
- Nicholas Bonneville
- Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
Sources
- Past anti-Masons : John Robison, on masonicinfo.com
- Biography, Papers of John Robison, Edinburgh University Library
- "The French Revolution and the Bavarian Illuminati", on Robison and Barruel, Freemasonry BC-Y
- "Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Robison," Philosophical Magazine, Vol. X, 1801.
- "Biographical Memoirs of Dr. Robinson, of Edinburgh," Philosophical Magazine, Vol. XIII, 1802.
References
- S2CID 163782119.
- ^ "Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002" (PDF). Royal Society of Edinburgh. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 22 September 2010.
- ^ "Irvine, William (1743-1787)". Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via Wikisource.
- ^ John Robison, A System of Mechanical Philosophy (London, England: John Murray, 1822), vol. 4. On page 68, the author states that in 1769 he announced his findings regarding the force between spheres of like charge. On page 73, the author states the force between spheres of like charge varies as x−2.06.
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- ^ Firminger, W. K. "The Romances of Robison and Barruel," Ars Quatuor Coronatorum, Vol. I. W. J. Parrett, Ltd. Margate, 1940.
- ^ Thebaud, A. J. "Freemasonry," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. VI, 1881.
- ^ "To Reverend G. W. Snyder," Archived 19 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine 24 October 1798.
- ISBN 0-89081-749-9. p.247-272
- ^ "Elements of mechanical philosophy: being the substance of a course of lectures on that science". archive.org. 1804.
- ^ Papers of John Robison, Archived 1 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine Edinburgh University Library Department of Special Collections.
- hdl:2027/hvd.32044080805112 – via HathiTrust. Vol. 2 , Vol. 3 , Vol. 4
Further reading
- Campbell, Peter R. (2010). Conspiracy in the French Revolution. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-7402-8.
- Davis, David Brian, ed. (1971). The Fear of Conspiracy. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-0598-X.
- Slosson, F. W. (1917). "The 'Conspiracy' Superstition". The Unpopular Review. VII (14).
External links
- Complete text of "Proofs of a Conspiracy ..." at sacred-texts.com
- Biography at Significant Scots
- Introduction and first two chapters of Robison's book: "Proofs of a Conspiracy ..."
- Gruber, Hermann (1910). "Illuminati," The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. VII. NY: Robert Appleton Company. pp. 661–663.
- Darkness Over All: John Robison and the Birth of the Illuminati Conspiracy