| T. Forster | |
| Birth Name: | Thomas Ignatius Maria Forster |
| Birth Date: | 9 November 1789 |
| Birth Place: | Walthamstow, London, England |
| Death Place: | Brussels, Belgium |
| Alma Mater: | Corpus Christi College, Cambridge |
| Occupation: | Astronomer, physician, naturalist, philosopher |
| Children: | 1 |
| Father: | Thomas Furly Forster |
Thomas Ignatius Maria Forster (9 November 1789 – 2 February 1860) was an English astronomer, physician, naturalist and philosopher. An early animal rights activist, he promoted vegetarianism and founded the Animals' Friend Society with Lewis Gompertz. He published pamphlets on a wide variety of subjects, including morality, Pythagorean philosophy, bird migration, Sati, and "phrenology", a term that he coined in 1815.
Forster was born in London, on 9 November 1789, the eldest son of Thomas Furly Forster of Walthamstow, who was a botanist, and follower of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He did not have the conventional classical literary education, but learned some science from his uncle Benjamin Meggot Forster.[1] The Great Comet of 1811 aroused his interest in astronomy, a science which he continued to pursue, and eight years later, on 3 July 1819, he himself discovered a new comet. He declined a fellowship to the Royal Society in 1816 as he disliked some of the rules. He matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in order to study law, but soon abandoned it to study medicine, taking his degree in 1819.