ASPECTS OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF FOLKES,MARTIN (1690-1754)

Martin Folkes was an 18c. scientist and antiquary, a Friend of Benjami n Robins and a President of the Royal Society (P.R.S) (1741-1752). Fol kes published works in science on a variety of subjects including mete orology and archeology, and he was an expert on antiquities, much preo ccupied with coinage. It appears that he was nominated as an executor of the will of engineering-scientist, Benjamin Robins respecting his s cientific publications but died, in 1754, having retired from the Pres idency of the R.S. in 1752, a year after Robins' decease in India. Eve n after describing Folkes' life and work it is not easy to see what he had in common with his supporter Newton and his colleague Robins; thi s is a matter which calls for imagination and which we hope to stimula te by broadly describing his life and works. Two major inclusions here in pertain to ''Sir'' John Hill's quarrels with Folkes and others, and to Robins' paper on the ''proper charge in guns'', see Appendices A a nd B, respectively. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved .