Young, Thomas 1773-1829
English physicist, physician and Egyptologist

Born in Milverton, Somerset, he studied medicine at the universities of London, Edinburgh, G�ttingen and Cambridge, and became a physician in London in 1800, but devoted himself to scientific research. In 1801 he was appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Royal Institution, was later appointed physician to St George's Hospital (1811), and held several public offices related to science and navigation. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (1794), and was involved in the Royal Society's affairs as Foreign Secretary and Member of Council. He became best known in the 19th century for his wave theory of light, and combined the wave theory of Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton's theory of colours to explain the interference phenomenon produced by ruled gratings, thin plates, and the colours of the rainbow. He also did valuable work in insurance, haemodynamics and Egyptology, and made a fundamental contribution to the deciphering of the inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone.

Bibliography: Alexander Wood, Thomas Young, Natural Philosopher, 1773-1829 (1954)