# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/john-henry-pratt
# Generated: 2026-08-13T22:49:25.975Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/john-henry-pratt"
name: "John Henry Pratt"
slug: "john-henry-pratt"
description: "John Henry Pratt FRS was a British clergyman, astronomer and mathematician. A Cambridge Apostle, he joined the British East India Company in 1838 as a chaplain and later became Archdeacon of Calcutta. Although nominated as Bishop of Calcutta, the decision was rescinded at the last moment with George Cotton being appointed to the position. A gifted mathematician who worked on problems of geodesy and earth science, he was approached by the Surveyor General of India to examine the errors in surveys resulting from the attraction of the plumb-line to the mass of the Himalayan mountains. This led him to develop a theory based on a fluid earth of crustal balance which became the basis for the isostasy principle. He died in India of cholera while on a visit to Ghazipur."
tagline: "British mathematician (1809–1871)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/John_Henry_Pratt.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Academics"
  slug: "academics"
profileType:
  name: "Academic"
  slug: "academic"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1809-06-04"
deathDate: "1871-12-28"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           41.76
  momentum:             14.4235836627141
  historical:           8.738121333333334
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     54.99999999999999
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "BREAKOUT"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%84%E7%BF%B0%C2%B7%E4%BA%A8%E5%88%A9%C2%B7%E6%99%AE%E6%8B%89%E7%89%B9"
    title: "約翰·亨利·普拉特"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%86_%D9%87%D9%86%D8%B1%D9%8A_%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA"
    title: "جون هنري برات"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%86_%D9%87%D9%86%D8%B1%D9%89_%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA"
    title: "جون هنرى برات"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Pratt"
    title: "John Henry Pratt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Pratt"
    title: "John Henry Pratt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Pratt_(archdeacon_of_Calcutta)"
    title: "John Pratt (archdeacon of Calcutta)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Pratt"
    title: "John Henry Pratt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ht.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Pratt"
    title: "John Henry Pratt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%98%E3%83%B3%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%97%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%83%88"
    title: "ジョン・ヘンリー・プラット"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Pratt"
    title: "John Henry Pratt"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1236734"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump