George Atwood (1746-11.07 1807) was an English physicist and mathematician and a Fellow of the Royal Society (1776). He graduated from the University of Cambridge (1772). He worked there in 1769—84 as a teacher and then as professor.
His work was in the field of electricity, optics and mechanics. He invented a device for testing the laws of falling bodies (Atwood's machine), which he described in a treatise on mechanics (1784). He studied the stability of bodies on the surface of water. The Copley Medal.