Scottish Blog

1766-1832

John Leslie was a renowned Scottish mathematician and physicist during the Scottish Enlightenment.

John Leslie is best known for his work involving research on heat. His most famous experiment is known as the Leslie cube. In its original form the cube is painted black on one side, polished on two sides and a dull copper on the last side. This experiment is meant to show that heat radiation is the most significant on the black side.
In 1810, John Leslie was also the first person to artificially create ice through capillary action of an air pump.

John Leslie was born on the 10th of April 1766 in Largo, Fife in Scotland. He was raised and educated there for his early years. Due his natural aptitude in mathematics John Leslie was encouraged to attend the University of St Andrews. Until 1787 John Leslie studied Arts and divinity. After his graduation from both courses John Leslie spent time working as a private tutor and working on his first publication, “Natural History of Birds”, which was published in 1793 across nine volumes.

In 1805 John Leslie was he was elected to the chair of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh. While holding this position John Leslie published a number of new mathematics papers.

In 1819 John Leslie was promoted to the chair of natural philosophy. He kept this position until his death in 1832. While here he also made a number of contributions to the field of physics such as the differential thermometer.