56-511: Sir William Jones FRS FRAS FRSE (28 September 1746 – 27 April 1794) was a Welsh philologist , orientalist and a puisne judge on the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal , and a scholar of ancient India . He is particularly known for his proposition of the existence of a relationship among European and Indo-Aryan languages , which later came to be known as
112-735: A Chair (all of whom are Fellows of the Royal Society ). Members of the 10 Sectional Committees change every three years to mitigate in-group bias . Each Sectional Committee covers different specialist areas including: New Fellows are admitted to the Society at a formal admissions day ceremony held annually in July, when they sign the Charter Book and the Obligation which reads: "We who have hereunto subscribed, do hereby promise, that we will endeavour to promote
168-529: A common root, and that indeed they might all be further related, in turn, to Gothic and the Celtic languages , as well as to Persian . Although his name is closely associated with this observation, he was not the first to make it. In the 16th century, European visitors to India became aware of similarities between Indian and European languages and as early as 1653, the Dutch scholar Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn had published
224-414: A flood of works on India, launching the modern study of the subcontinent in virtually every social science. He also wrote on the local laws, music, literature, botany, and geography, and made the first English translations of several important works of Indian literature. Sir William Jones sometimes also went by the nom de plume Youns Uksfardi (یونس اوکسفردی, "Jones of Oxford"). This pen name can be seen on
280-550: A letter published in French (1771), that the translator Anquetil-Duperron had been duped, that the Parsis of Surat had palmed off upon him a conglomeration of worthless fabrications and absurdities. In England, Jones was supported by Richardson and Sir John Chardin; in Germany, by Meiners. Anquetil-Duperron was labelled an impostor who had invented his own script to support his claim. This debate
336-646: A new certificate of authentication, a knight's only personal documentation, was designed by the College of Arms . The Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor was founded for the maintenance and consolidation of the Dignity of Knights Bachelor in 1908, and obtained official recognition from the Sovereign in 1912. The Society keeps records of all Knights Bachelor, in their interest. There is no female counterpart to Knight Bachelor. The lowest knightly honour that can be conferred upon
392-474: A position tutoring the seven-year-old Lord Althorp , son of Earl Spencer . For the next six years he worked as a tutor and translator. During this time he published Histoire de Nader Chah (1770), a French translation of a work originally written in Persian by Mirza Mehdi Khan Astarabadi . This was done at the request of King Christian VII of Denmark : he had visited Jones, who by the age of 23 had already acquired
448-599: A proposal for a proto-language ("Scythian") for Germanic , Romance , Greek , Baltic , Slavic , Celtic and Iranian . Finally, in a memoir sent to the French Academy of Sciences in 1767 Gaston-Laurent Coeurdoux , a French Jesuit who spent all his life in India, had specifically demonstrated the existing analogy between Sanskrit and European languages. In 1786 Jones postulated a proto-language uniting Sanskrit, Iranian, Greek, Latin, Germanic and Celtic, but in many ways, his work
504-613: A radical political thinker, a friend of American independence. His work, The principles of government; in a dialogue between a scholar and a peasant (1783), was the subject of a trial for seditious libel (known as the Case of the Dean of St Asaph ) after it was reprinted by his brother-in-law William Davies Shipley . He was appointed puisne judge to the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Calcutta, Bengal , on 4 March 1783, and on 20 March he
560-611: A reputation as an orientalist , and in appreciation of his work he was granted membership in the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters . This would be the first of numerous works on Persia , Anatolia , and the Middle East in general. In 1770, Jones joined the Middle Temple and studied law for three years, a preliminary to his life-work in India. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 30 April 1772. In 1773, he
616-469: A stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and the forms of grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists; there is a similar reason, though not quite so forcible, for supposing that both the Gothic and the Celtic , though blended with
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#1732937965407672-503: A very different idiom, had the same origin with the Sanscrit ; and the old Persian might be added to the same family. This common source came to be known as Proto-Indo-European . Jones was the first to propose the concept of an " Aryan invasion " into the Indian subcontinent , which according to Jones led to a lasting ethnic division in India between descents of indigenous Indians and those of
728-1321: Is a significant honour. It has been awarded to many eminent scientists throughout history, including Isaac Newton (1672), Benjamin Franklin (1756), Charles Babbage (1816), Michael Faraday (1824), Charles Darwin (1839), Ernest Rutherford (1903), Srinivasa Ramanujan (1918), Jagadish Chandra Bose (1920), Albert Einstein (1921), Paul Dirac (1930), Winston Churchill (1941), Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1944), Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1945), Dorothy Hodgkin (1947), Alan Turing (1951), Lise Meitner (1955), Satyendra Nath Bose (1958), and Francis Crick (1959). More recently, fellowship has been awarded to Stephen Hawking (1974), David Attenborough (1983), Tim Hunt (1991), Elizabeth Blackburn (1992), Raghunath Mashelkar (1998), Tim Berners-Lee (2001), Venki Ramakrishnan (2003), Atta-ur-Rahman (2006), Andre Geim (2007), Bai Chunli (2014), James Dyson (2015), Ajay Kumar Sood (2015), Subhash Khot (2017), Elon Musk (2018), Elaine Fuchs (2019) and around 8,000 others in total, including over 280 Nobel Laureates since 1900. As of October 2018 , there are approximately 1,689 living Fellows, Foreign and Honorary Members, of whom 85 are Nobel Laureates. Fellowship of
784-725: Is confirmed by the Council in April, and a secret ballot of Fellows is held at a meeting in May. A candidate is elected if they secure two-thirds of votes of those Fellows voting. An indicative allocation of 18 Fellowships can be allocated to candidates from Physical Sciences and Biological Sciences; and up to 10 from Applied Sciences, Human Sciences and Joint Physical and Biological Sciences. A further maximum of six can be 'Honorary', 'General' or 'Royal' Fellows. Nominations for Fellowship are peer reviewed by Sectional Committees, each with at least 12 members and
840-423: Is described in heraldic terms as follows: Upon an oval medallion of vermilion , enclosed by a scroll a cross-hilted sword belted and sheathed, pommel upwards, between two spurs, rowels upwards, the whole set about with the sword belt, all gilt. In 1974, Queen Elizabeth II issued a further warrant authorising the wearing on appropriate occasions of a neck badge, slightly smaller, and in miniature. In 1988,
896-421: Is nominated by two Fellows of the Royal Society (a proposer and a seconder), who sign a certificate of proposal. Previously, nominations required at least five fellows to support each nomination by the proposer, which was criticised for supposedly establishing an old boy network and elitist gentlemen's club . The certificate of election (see for example ) includes a statement of the principal grounds on which
952-626: The Asiatic Society in Calcutta . He studied the Vedas with Rāmalocana, a pandit teaching at the Nadiya Hindu university, becoming a proficient Sanskritist. Jones kept up a ten-year correspondence on the topic of jyotisa or Hindu astronomy with fellow orientalist Samuel Davis . He learnt the ancient concept of Hindu Laws from Pandit Jagannath Tarka Panchanan . Over the next ten years, he would produce
1008-461: The British honours system . Knights Bachelor are the most ancient sort of British knight (the rank existed during the 13th-century reign of King Henry III ), but Knights Bachelor rank below knights of chivalric orders. A man who is knighted is formally addressed as " Sir [First Name] [Surname]" or "Sir [First Name]" and his wife as " Lady [Surname]". The designation "Bachelor" in this context conveys
1064-678: The Chinese were originally Hindus belonging to the Kshatriya caste. Jones, in his 1772 Essay on the Arts called Imitative , was one of the first to propound an expressive theory of poetry, valorising expression over description or imitation: "If the arguments, used in this essay, have any weight, it will appear, that the finest parts of poetry, music, and painting, are expressive of the passions...the inferior parts of them are descriptive of natural objects". He thereby anticipated Wordsworth in grounding poetry on
1120-676: The Indo-European languages . Jones also founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta in 1784 and continued to expand his knowledge of Eastern languages, particularly Sanskrit , at the University of Nadiya. William Jones was born in London; his father William Jones (1675–1749) was a mathematician from Anglesey in Wales, noted for introducing the use of the symbol π . The young William Jones
1176-426: The post-nominal letters FRS . Every year, fellows elect up to ten new foreign members. Like fellows, foreign members are elected for life through peer review on the basis of excellence in science. As of 2016 , there are around 165 foreign members, who are entitled to use the post-nominal ForMemRS . Honorary Fellowship is an honorary academic title awarded to candidates who have given distinguished service to
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#17329379654071232-458: The Aryans. This idea fell into obscurity due to a lack of evidence at the time, but was later taken up by amateur Indologists such as the colonial administrator Herbert Hope Risley . Jones also propounded theories that might appear peculiar today but were less so in his time. For example, he believed that Egyptian priests had migrated and settled down in India in prehistoric times. He also posited that
1288-597: The Asiatic Society on the history and culture of the Hindus (delivered on 2 February 1786 and published in 1788) with the famed "philologer" passage is often cited as the beginning of comparative linguistics and Indo-European studies . The Sanscrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek , more copious than the Latin , and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them
1344-657: The Honourable Sir William Jones. Containing a Retrospective Survey of the Progress of Science, and the Mohammedan Conquests in Asia . Arthur Schopenhauer referred to one of Sir William Jones's publications in §1 of The World as Will and Representation (1819). Schopenhauer was trying to support the doctrine that "everything that exists for knowledge, and hence the whole of this world, is only object in relation to
1400-547: The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE); Sir Patrick Stewart , Sir Cliff Richard , Sir Tom Jones and Sir Van Morrison are Officers of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE); while Sir Paul McCartney , Sir Richard Starkey ( Ringo Starr ), Sir Nick Faldo , and Sir Lewis Hamilton are Members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE). None of them would be entitled to use
1456-482: The Order of the British Empire instead.) Until 1926, Knights Bachelor had no insignia which they could wear, but in that year King George V issued a warrant authorising the wearing of a badge on all appropriate occasions by Knights Bachelor; this badge is worn on the left side of the coat or outer garment. Measuring 2 + 3 ⁄ 8 inches (60 mm) in length and 1 + 3 ⁄ 8 inches (35 mm) in width, it
1512-591: The Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society ( FRS , ForMemRS and HonFRS ) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge , including mathematics , engineering science , and medical science ". Fellowship of the Society, the oldest known scientific academy in continuous existence,
1568-439: The Royal Society has been described by The Guardian as "the equivalent of a lifetime achievement Oscar " with several institutions celebrating their announcement each year. Up to 60 new Fellows (FRS), honorary (HonFRS) and foreign members (ForMemRS) are elected annually in late April or early May, from a pool of around 700 proposed candidates each year. New Fellows can only be nominated by existing Fellows for one of
1624-655: The Society, we shall be free from this Obligation for the future". Since 2014, portraits of Fellows at the admissions ceremony have been published without copyright restrictions in Wikimedia Commons under a more permissive Creative Commons license which allows wider re-use. In addition to the main fellowships of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS & HonFRS), other fellowships are available which are applied for by individuals, rather than through election. These fellowships are research grant awards and holders are known as Royal Society Research Fellows . In addition to
1680-559: The Sperm Whale's brow? I put that brow before you. Read it if you can. Edgar Allan Poe 's short story " Berenice " starts with a motto, the first half of a poem, by Ibn Zaiat: Dicebant mihi sodales si sepulchrum amicae visitarem, curas meas aliquantulum fore levatas. It was taken from the works of William Jones, and here is the missing part (from Complete Works, Vol. 2, London, 1799): Dixi autem, an ideo aliud praeter hoc pectus habet sepulchrum? My companions said to me, if I would visit
1736-501: The Vedânta school consisted not in denying the existence of matter, that is solidity, impenetrability, and extended figure (to deny which would be lunacy), but in correcting the popular notion of it, and in contending that it has no essence independent of mental perception; that existence and perceptibility are convertible terms." Schopenhauer used Jones's authority to relate the basic principle of his philosophy to what was, according to Jones,
William Jones (philologist) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1792-468: The award of Fellowship (FRS, HonFRS & ForMemRS) and the Research Fellowships described above, several other awards, lectures and medals of the Royal Society are also given. Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry ; it is a part of
1848-456: The basis of a Romantic subjectivity. Jones was a contributor to Hyde's Notebooks during his term on the bench of the Supreme Court of Judicature. The notebooks are a valuable primary source of information for life in late 18th-century Bengal, and are the only remaining source for the proceedings of the Supreme Court. After reaching Calcutta, Jones was unhappy with the appointed pandits of
1904-597: The cause of science, but do not have the kind of scientific achievements required of Fellows or Foreign Members. Honorary Fellows include the World Health Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (2022), Bill Bryson (2013), Melvyn Bragg (2010), Robin Saxby (2015), David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville (2008), Onora O'Neill (2007), John Maddox (2000), Patrick Moore (2001) and Lisa Jardine (2015). Honorary Fellows are entitled to use
1960-679: The concept of "junior in rank". Knighthood is usually conferred for public service; amongst its recipients are all male judges of His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England . It is possible to be a Knight Bachelor and a junior member of an order of chivalry without being a knight of that order; this situation has become rather common, especially among those recognized for achievements in entertainment. For instance, Sir Michael Gambon , Sir Mo Farah , Sir Derek Jacobi , Sir Anthony Hopkins , Sir Elton John , Sir Michael Caine , Sir Billy Connolly , Sir Barry Gibb and Sir Ian McKellen are Commanders of
2016-407: The court, who were tasked with interpreting the laws of Hinduism and contributing to judgements. After a number of cases in which different pandits came up with different rulings, Jones determined to thoroughly learn Sanskrit so that he could independently interpret the original sources. Jones's final judicial project was suggesting and leading the compilation of a Sanskrit "digest of Hindu Law," with
2072-515: The fellowships described below: Every year, up to 52 new fellows are elected from the United Kingdom, the rest of the Commonwealth of Nations , and Ireland, which make up around 90% of the society. Each candidate is considered on their merits and can be proposed from any sector of the scientific community. Fellows are elected for life on the basis of excellence in science and are entitled to use
2128-487: The first translation of the Avesta scriptures arose. It was the first evidence of an Indo-European language as old as Sanskrit to be translated into a modern European language. It was suggested that the so-called Zend-Avesta was not the genuine work of the prophet Zoroaster , but was a recent forgery. Foremost among the detractors, it is to be regretted, was the distinguished (though young) orientalist William Jones. He claimed, in
2184-501: The god of sport, who creates the game of chess as a gift for Mars to win Caissa's favour. Mars wins her over with the game. Caissa has since been characterised as the "goddess" of chess, her name being used in several contexts in modern chess playing. Thomas Maurice (1754–1824) published An Elegiac Poem in 1795; full title: An Elegiac and Historical Poem: Sacred to the Memory and Virtues of
2240-530: The good of the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, and to pursue the ends for which the same was founded; that we will carry out, as far as we are able, those actions requested of us in the name of the Council; and that we will observe the Statutes and Standing Orders of the said Society. Provided that, whensoever any of us shall signify to the President under our hands, that we desire to withdraw from
2296-459: The grave of my lover, I might somewhat alleviate my worries. I answered "could she be buried elsewhere than in my heart?" There is a statue of Jones, by the sculptor John Bacon in St Paul's Cathedral , London, erected in 1799. Listing in most cases only editions and reprints that came out during Jones's own lifetime, books by, or prominently including work by, William Jones, are: Fellow of
William Jones (philologist) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2352-520: The honorific "Sir" by virtue of their membership of the order alone, but as they are all also Knights Bachelor, they are entitled to preface their names with that title. Knights Bachelor may prefix " Sir " to their forenames, and wives of Knights may prefix "Lady" to their surnames. The award originated in the Middle Ages . There are no post-nominal letters associated with the honour nor can it be awarded to women. (They are appointed Dames Commander of
2408-502: The inner front cover of his Persian Grammar published in 1771 (and in subsequent editions). He died in Calcutta on 27 April 1794 at the age of 47 and is buried in South Park Street Cemetery . Jones is known today for his propositions about relationships between the Indo-European languages . In his Third Anniversary Discourse to the Asiatic Society (1786) he suggested that Sanskrit , Greek and Latin languages had
2464-665: The most important underlying proposition of Vedânta. He made more passing reference to Sir William Jones's writings elsewhere in his works. On 28 September 1822, the Dutch orientalist Hendrik Arent Hamaker , who accepted a professorship at the University of Leiden , gave his inaugural lecture in Latin De vita et meritis Guilielmi Jonesii (The Life and Works of William Jones)(Leiden, 1823). Herman Melville 's Moby-Dick mentions William Jones in Chapter 79, "The Prairie": Champollion deciphered
2520-401: The original plan of translating the work himself. After his death, the translation was completed by Henry Thomas Colebrooke . Jones said that "either the first eleven chapters of Genesis ... are true, or the whole fabrick [sic] of our national religion is false, a conclusion which none of us, I trust, would wish to be drawn." (1788, 225) He also said that "I... am obliged of course to believe
2576-460: The post nominal letters HonFRS . Statute 12 is a legacy mechanism for electing members before official honorary membership existed in 1997. Fellows elected under statute 12 include David Attenborough (1983) and John Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne (1991). The Council of the Royal Society can recommend members of the British royal family for election as Royal Fellow of the Royal Society . As of 2023 there are four royal fellows: Elizabeth II
2632-546: The proposal is being made. There is no limit on the number of nominations made each year. In 2015, there were 654 candidates for election as Fellows and 106 candidates for Foreign Membership. The Council of the Royal Society oversees the selection process and appoints 10 subject area committees, known as Sectional Committees, to recommend the strongest candidates for election to the Fellowship. The final list of up to 52 Fellowship candidates and up to 10 Foreign Membership candidates
2688-511: The sanctity of the venerable books [of Genesis]." (1788, 225) Jones "traced the foundation of the Indian empire above three thousand eight hundred years from now" (Jones, 1790). Jones thought it was important that this date would be between Archbishop Ussher 's Creation date of 4004 BC and the Great Flood that Jones considered to have been in 2350 BC. In Europe a discussion as to the authenticity of
2744-580: The subject, perception of the perceiver, in a word, representation." He quoted Jones's original English: ... how early this basic truth was recognized by the sages of India since it appears as the fundamental tenet of the Vedânta philosophy ascribed to Vyasa , is proved by Sir William Jones in the last of his essays: "On the Philosophy of the Asiatics" ( Asiatic Researches , vol. IV, p. 164): "The fundamental tenet of
2800-447: The wrinkled granite hieroglyphics. But there is no Champollion to decipher the Egypt of every man's and every being's face. Physiognomy, like every other human science, is but a passing fable. If then, Sir William Jones, who read in thirty languages, could not read the simplest peasant's face in its profounder and more subtle meanings, how may unlettered Ishmael hope to read the awful Chaldee of
2856-523: Was knighted . In April 1783 he married Anna Maria Shipley, the eldest daughter of Jonathan Shipley , Bishop of Llandaff and Bishop of St Asaph . Anna Maria used her artistic skills to help Jones document life in India. On 25 September 1783 he arrived in Calcutta . In the Subcontinent he was entranced by Indian culture , an as-yet untouched field in European scholarship, and on 15 January 1784 he founded
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#17329379654072912-593: Was a linguistic prodigy , who in addition to his native languages English and Welsh, learned Greek , Latin , Persian , Arabic , Hebrew and the basics of Chinese writing at an early age. By the end of his life, he knew eight languages with critical thoroughness. Jones's father died when he was aged three, and his mother Mary Nix Jones raised him. He was sent to Harrow School in September 1753 and then went on to University College, Oxford . He graduated there in 1768 and became M.A. in 1773. Financially constrained, he took
2968-509: Was elected a member of The Club , of which he became president in 1780. He spent some time as a circuit judge in Wales, and then became involved in politics: he made a fruitless attempt to resolve the American Revolution in concert with Benjamin Franklin in Paris, and ran for the post of Member of Parliament from Oxford in the general election of 1780, but was unsuccessful. Jones was
3024-459: Was less accurate than his predecessors, as he erroneously included Egyptian , Japanese and Chinese in the Indo-European languages, while omitting Hindustani and Slavic . Jones also suggested that Sanskrit "was introduced [to north India] by conquerors from other kingdoms in some very remote age" displacing "the pure Hindi" of north India. Nevertheless, Jones's third annual discourse before
3080-421: Was not a Royal Fellow, but provided her patronage to the society, as all reigning British monarchs have done since Charles II of England . Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1951) was elected under statute 12, not as a Royal Fellow. The election of new fellows is announced annually in May, after their nomination and a period of peer-reviewed selection. Each candidate for Fellowship or Foreign Membership
3136-457: Was not settled for almost a century. In 1763, at the age of 17, Jones wrote the poem Caissa in English, based on a 658-line poem called "Scacchia, Ludus" published in 1527 by Marco Girolamo Vida , giving a mythical origin of chess that has become well known in the chess world. In the poem, the nymph Caissa initially repels the advances of Mars , the god of war. Spurned, Mars seeks the aid of
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