John Wilkins (January 1, 1614 – November 19, 1672) was an
English clergyman,
natural philosopher and author. He was the founder of the
metric system and first secretary of the
Royal Society in 1660 and
Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death.
Wilkins is the only person to have headed a college at both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. He was a polymath, although not a deep innovator in science. His personal qualities were brought out, and obvious to his contemporaries, in reducing political tension in Interregnum Oxford, in founding the Royal Society on non-partisan lines, and in efforts to reach out to religious nonconformists. He was one of the founders of the new natural theology compatible with the science of the time.[1]
As an author, he is particularly known for An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language in which, amongst other things, he proposed a decimal system of measure not unlike the modern metric system. The Ballad of Gresham College (1663), an ode to the Society, describes his efforts
A Doctor counted very able
Designes that all Mankynd converse shall,
Spite o' th' confusion made att Babell,
By Character call'd Universall.
How long this character will be learning,
That truly passeth my discerning.[2]
