John Pringle Nichol

John Pringle Nichol FRSE (13 January 1804 – 19 September 1859) was a Scottish educator, phrenologist, astronomer and economist who did much to popularise astronomy in a manner that appealed to nineteenth century tastes.

Born at Huntly-Hill, near Brechin, Angus, Nichol was the son of a gentleman farmer and was educated at the local grammar school and then at King's College, University of Aberdeen. He was licensed as a preacher and became a highly effective communicator but the impact of phrenological thinking led him to abandon the Church for education.

Nichol held a number of posts in education and journalism and corresponded with many leading thinkers of the times, including John Stuart Mill. He clearly made some impression in economics as James Mill and Nassau Senior nominated him as Jean-Baptiste Say's successor as professor of political economy at the Collège de France though he was at the time too ill to take the post.

In 1836 and in competition with Thomas Carlyle, Nichol was appointed Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Glasgow. He became an enthusiastic and effective lecturer and made a profound impression on William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin with his introduction of the "Continental" approach to mathematical physics of Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier.

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