James Dinwiddie (astronomer)

James Dinwiddie (1746 to 1815) was a Scottish physicist, astronomer, inventor and natural philosopher, born at Tinwald near Dumfries, who became an early science popularizer. He studied at Dumfries Academy and the University of Edinburgh, took a Master of Arts there in 1778 and taught mathematics and natural philosophy, giving lectures with experiments and instruments across England and Ireland. He tried ballooning, made silk airtight for balloons, and in 1792 and 1793 went to China with Lord Macartney as machinist and then astronomer of the embassy, where his astronomical instruments failed to impress the court. He stayed on in Calcutta, lectured there from 1795, taught astronomy to Indian students, and from 1801 was professor of natural philosophy at Fort William College. He returned to England in 1806 and was elected to the Royal Institution in 1810.