Robert Barker (physician)

Robert Barker (died 1745) was a British physician and inventor. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society from 1732.[1]

Robert Barker, 1744 medal by Jacques-Antoine Dassier, the reverse side mentioning his membership of the Royal Society

Barker invented both a reflecting microscope, exhibited in 1736, and "Barker's mill", a prototype reaction turbine (1743).[2][3] According to James Dodson, he was a friend of Charles Labelye.[4] He died in London, on 9 September 1745.[5]

Barker's Mill

Barker's Mill, a rotating device powered by water and Newton's Third Law, is sometimes described as a 17th century invention.[6] It is attributed to Dr Robert Barker F.R.S., in 1743. It was published by John Theophilus Desaguliers in his book Experimental Philosophy of 1744.[7][3] Desaguliers, who himself demonstrated the mill to the Royal Society, attributed the principle involved to Antoine Parent.[8] French terms for the mill are tourniquet hydraulique, moulin de Parent or roue à réaction.[9][10]

A complex timeline of development ensued.

Notes
  1. "Royal Society Fellow details Barker; Robert (- 1745)". Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  2. Ratcliff, Marc J. (2016-02-24). The Quest for the Invisible: Microscopy in the Enlightenment. Routledge. p. 30. ISBN 9781317018407. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  3. Dickinson, Henry Winram (2011-02-17). A Short History of the Steam Engine. Cambridge University Press. p. 187. ISBN 9781108012287. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  4. Dodson, James (1742). The Anti-logarithmic Canon: Being a Table of Numbers, Consisting of Eleven Places of Figures, Corresponding to All Logarithms Under 100000 ... With Precepts and Examples ... To which is Prefix'd, an Introduction, Containing a Short Account of Logarithms ... J. Dodson and J. Wilcox. p. x. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  5. Hawkins, Edward, Herbert Appold Grueber (1885). "Medallic illustrations of the history of Great Britain and Ireland to the death of George II". Internet Archive. London: British Museum. p. 588. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  6. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Barker's Mill" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  7. Project Technology, Schools Council (Great Britain) (1975). Industrial Archaeology of Watermills & Waterpower. Heinemann Educational Books. p. 85. ISBN 9780435759100. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  8. Musson, Albert Edward; Robinson, Eric (1989). Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution. Taylor & Francis. p. 45. ISBN 9782881243820. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  9. Viollet, Pierre-Louis (2005). Histoire de l'énergie hydraulique: moulins, pompes, roues et turbines de l'Antiquité au XXe siècle (in French). Presses des Ponts. p. 139. ISBN 9782859784140. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  10. Recueil de la Société polytechnique: ou Recueil industriel, manufacturier, agricole et commercial, de la salubrité publique, et des actes de l'administration propres à encourager les diverses branches de l'économie publique. Société polytechnique. 1828. p. 119.
  11. Ferguson, James; Henderson, Ebenezer (1867). Life of James Ferguson, F. R. S.: In a Brief Autobiographical Account, and Further Extended Memoir. A. Fullarton. p. 154. Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  12. "Rumsey Exhibit – 3-4 – the Museum of the Berkeley Springs". Retrieved 8 August 2018.
  13. Hall, A. Rupert; Smith, Norman (2016-09-30). History of Technology. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 238. ISBN 9781350017382. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  14. "Whitelaw and Stirrat, Grace's Guide". Retrieved 8 August 2018.
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