Thomas Burnet
Thomas Burnet (c. 1635? - 27 September 1715[1][2]), theologian and writer on cosmogony, was born at Croft near Darlington in 1635. After studying at Northallerton Grammar School[3] he went to Clare College, Cambridge in 1651.[3] Later he became Master of Charterhouse and Clerk of the Closet to William III.
His literary fame rests on his Telluris Theoria Sacra, or Sacred Theory of the Earth, published 1681 in Latin and 1684 in English, a work which, in absence of all scientific knowledge of the Earth's structure, was necessarily a mere speculative cosmogony. It is written, however, with much eloquence. In this book he suggested that the earth was a perfect hollow sphere with most of the water inside until Noah's Flood, at which time mountains and oceans appeared. He attempted to keep his argument as scientific as possible, carefully (but incorrectly) calculating the amount of water on Earth. To his calculations, there was not enough water on Earth to account for Noah's Flood. His explanation was that the water came from beneath the Earth's surface.
Isaac Newton was an admirer of Burnet's theological approach to geological processes. Newton even wrote to Burnet, suggesting the possibility that when God created the Earth, the days were longer. However, Burnet did not find this explanation scientific enough. Lengthening the days would require an intervention on God's part. Burnet tightly held the belief that God created the world and all its processes perfectly from the start.
Some of the views expressed in another work, Archaeologiae Philosophicae, were, however, so unacceptable to contemporary theologians that he had to resign his post at Court. In this he considered whether The Fall of Man was a symbolic event rather than literal history.
Burnet's work had an influence on Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He is quoted at the beginning of the final (1834) revision of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.
The ridge Dorsa Burnet on the Moon was named after him.
Burnet died in 1715. His body is interred in the chapel at Charter House.[3]
Notes and references
- ^ Dates in this article follow the Julian Calendar.
- ^ Westfall, Richard S. ""Burnet, Thomas"". Catalog of the Scientific Community in the 16th and 17th Centuries. The Galileo Project.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - ^ a b c Riordan, Michael. From Middle Ages to Millenium Northallerton Grammar School and College 1322-2000. County Print. p. 10. ISBN 186123 103 2.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons – via Wikisource.