The father of five children had won a toy at a raffle.
He called his kids together to ask which one should have the present.
"Who is the most obedient?" he asked. "Who never talks back to mother? Who does everything she says?"
Five small voices answered in unison. "Okay, dad, you get the toy."
John Pringle NicholBorn 13 Jan 1804; died 19 Sep 1859 at age 55. Scottish astronomer and author who, after a few years early in his career as a teacher and headmaster, was appointed in 1836 as Regius Professor of Practical Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, where he spent the rest of his life. While in this position, he also became a popular public lecturer on astronomy and wrote a number of books on science. His fund-raising efforts paid for a new observatory atHoreslethill (1841), which was acquired by the University in 1845. While giving lectures in Natural Philosophy during the two-year absence during the illness of a colleague, it is said he inspired William Thomson as a young student who later became the famed Lord Kelvin. Nichols' last complete work was a Dictionary of the Physical Sciences. |
