William Molyneux ( 1656 - 1698 )

Birth: His father's house in New Row, Dublin, Ireland (17 April 1656) Death: Dublin, Ireland (11 October 1698) Burial: Tomb of Sir William Ussher, north aisle of St Audoen's Church, Dublin, Ireland Research Field: Astronomy, physics Education: Trinity College, Dublin BA, LLD (1693); Middle Temple (admitted 1675) Career: Published 'Six Metaphysical Meditations' (London, 1680), a translation of Descartes 'Meditationes' (1641); Joint Chief Engineer and Surveyor-General of the King's Buildings and Works in Ireland (1684-1688); founder of Dublin Philosophical Society officially constituted as The Dublin Society for the Improving of Naturall Knowledge, Mathematicks, and Mechanicks (1684); travelled in Holland, France and Germany (1685); designed a sundial-mounted telescope (1685) and published an account of it in Sciothericum Telescopium (Dublin, 1686); published Dioptrica Nova (London, 1692), the first optical treatise to be published in English; lived in Chester (1689-90); MP for City of Dublin and then Dublin University in the Irish Parliament (1690, 1692); originated the 'Molyneux Problem' proposed to John Locke (1693); published 'The Case of Ireland's Being Bound by Acts of Parliament in England Stated' (Dublin, 1698) Memberships: Dublin Philosophical Society (1683, Founder member) Membership: Fellow Election Date: 3/02/1686.