Forman, John

On chairs of theoretical physics in Europe at this time, see Christa Jungnickel and Russell McCormmach, Intellectual Mastery of Nature Theoretical Physics from Ohm to Einstein, 2 vols., (Chicago University of Chicago Press. 1986) II and Paul Forman, John Heilbron, and Spencer Weart, eds., Physics ca. 1900 V,... 

Forman, Heilbron, and Weart, 1975. Paul Forman, John Heilbron, and Spencer Weart. Physics circa 1900 Personnel, Funding, and Productivity of the Academic Establishments. Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences, 5, Princeton Princeton University Press. 

Wood, Athenae Oxonienses, ii. 98-105 (Forman), 373-4 (John Davies), though Wood did not include Forman in the original edn. of this work DNB. For Woods notes on Formans life, see Bodleian, Rawlinson MS D.912, fo. 643. For the impact of Lilly s account in the i8th cent, see e.g. Daniel Lyson, The environs of London, i (1792), 301-3. 

For a notebook of poems, including one dated 1578, see Ashm. 208, fos. 250—64. This contains verses for the queen which may relate to Forman s record of giving an oration before her in Wilton in 1574 Ashm. 208, fo. -rf. She was on progress in Wilton in August of that year John Dasent (ed.), Aas of the Privy Council of England, xi (1897), 280. A m ical MS from 1567 has been misattributedto Forman BL Additional MS 36674, fos. 47 —58. 

For the identification of Forman s numerous references to doubting Thomas as attacks on Thomas Hariot, see David B. Quinn and John W. Shirley, A Contemporary List of Hariot References , Renaissance Quarterly, 22 (1969), 9-26, esp. 22. But these also could be read as allusions to Thomas Hood. See also Johnston, Mathematical Practitioners , 335 n. 

Cf The erection of thy figure by the oblique ascention, after Jhon de Regio Montano [Regiomontanus]. . . Loke fo. 122 Ashm. 206, fos. 76—[81]. On Formans use of the system of Regiomontanus to cast figures, see John North, Horoscopes and History 162. 

Formans acriviries in 1582 are discussed in Ch. i. John Cypriano,y4 moste strange and wonderfullpro-phesieupon this troblesome worlde, rr. Anthony Holloway (1595) Formans copy is now bound in Ashm. 546. 

The Censors fined Forman 10 and committed him to prison.23 Three weeks later, a Mr Willis presented a writ on Forman s behalf and Sir John... 

Other irregular practitioners were perceived by the Censors to have poor manners and outrageous ambitions some professed to have studied abroad, others to have learnt through experience, some to have practised at court, others to be expert in alchemy, but Forman alone asserted a singular expertise in astrology. " g g g,f jPg infamous John Lambe (d. 1628) provides a... 

Allen, Star-Crossed Renaissance, 50, 105, 137 C. Camden, Astrology in Shakespeare s Day , Isis, 55 (1933), 26-73, esp. 54 Dick, Students of Physic and Astrology Chapman, Astrological Medicine , 278 Thomas, Decline ofMa c, 356-82 C. J. S. Thompson, The Quacks of Old London (New York, 1928), 31. For Forman s legacy in lyth-cent. accounts of astrology, see Lilly, Life, 17—23 John Melton, Astrologaster or the figure caster (1620), 21. 

Forman appealed to Lady Hertford further, this time asking her to write to Sir John Popham, the Lord Chief Justice, and his son. Sir Francis Popham. As he told Napier ... 

Forman also told of attempts to prove him wrong by changing the name of the patient from John to Joan, or the proverbial replacement of human urine with that of a horse. The astrologer s questions exposed such impostors. 

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