YOUNG, Thomas, English physicist and archaeologist: b. Milverton, Somerset, 13 June 1773; d. London, 10 May 1829. He was of Quaker parentage, and at the age of 14 pos sessed a remarkable knowledge of Latin, Greek, French, Italian, Hebrew, Persian and Arabic. He studied medicine at London and Edinburgh. taking his M.D. at Gottingen in 1796 and later studying at Cambridge. As early as 1799 Young wrote his celebrated me moir on the 'Outlines and Experiments re specting Sound and Light,' which speedily conducted him to the discovery and demonstra tion of the interference of light. This discov ery alone, according to Sir J. Herschel, would have sufficed to have placed its author in the highest rank of scientific immortality. He de scribed astigmatism in 1801; formulated a cor rect theory of color perception; and made im portant contributions to harmadynamics. In 1801 he became professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Instituticn, and in 1802 foreign secretary to the Royal Society— an office which he held for the remainder of his life.
The series of lectures delivered in connection with his professorship form the substance of his great work, 'Natural Philosophy and the Me I I !in 7 In 1811 hr was elected phsician to George's In 1 818 he was Appoititi d secretary to the board of tiding tlic 'Nautical Alma nac.' He became also a linguist of high stab ity and is known for his successful pioneer work in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphic in scriptions and working out the hieroglyphic alphabet. He was author of many se-it-mine papers and of 'An Account of Some Recent Discoveries in Hieroglyphical Literature and Egyptian Antiquities' (1823). Consult Pea cock, 'Life of Young,' and 'Miscellaneous Works,' edited by Peacock and Leitch (1835)