“ YOUNG, THOMAS (1773–1829) , English man of science, belonged to a Quaker family of Milverton, Somerset, where he was born on the 13th of June 1773, the youngest of ten children. At the age of fourteen he was acquainted with Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Hebrew, Persian and Arabic. ”

“ Beginning to study medicine in London in 1792, he removed to Edinburgh in 1794, and a year later went to Göttingen, where he obtained the degree of doctor of physic in 1796. In 1797 he entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge. In the same year the death of his grand-uncle, Richard Brocklesby, made him financially independent, and in 1799 he established himself as a physician in Welbeck Street, London. Appointed in 1801 professor of physics at the Royal Institution, in two years he delivered ninety-one lectures. ”