Robert Willis
English academic (1800-1875) · Academics · Died at 75
The Reverend Robert Willis was an English academic. He was the first Cambridge professor to win widespread recognition as a mechanical engineer, and first to set the scientific study of vowels on a respectable foundation.
Robert Willis is read about 6 times a day, in 6 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 19 August 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?Media & music
Photos 12
Robert Willis
Willis's 1821 illustration of how a human could be concealed within the supposed chess automaton
One of the pieces of apparatus used by Willis to generate vowel sounds. The reed is at R, air is pumped through the L-shaped tube at the left. The plunger P-Q-O varies the acoustic length of the outer tube.
Willis's diagram of the larynx as used in Gray's Anatomy.
Robert Willis at about the time he lectured at the School of Mines
Awards
About this person
He is now best remembered for his extensive writings on architectural history, including many studies of mediaeval cathedrals and a four-volume treatise on the architecture of the University of Cambridge. He was described by Pevsner as "the greatest English architectural historian of the 19th century".
