Henry Cavendish   1731—1810   British scientist   Grandson of Second Duke of Devonshire   Attended Cambridge for four years but left without taking a degree   Because of his wealth he was able to pursue scientific studies   Credited with discovering hydrogen   He described “inflammable air” in a paper published in 1766   Antoine Lavoisier later reproduced Cavendish’s experiment and named the element   Cavendish made one of the most accurate calculations of the mass of the earth   A silent and solitary person who had no close friends outside his family   Modern commentators speculate that he may have had Asperger’s Syndrome   His large estate endowed the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University

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