Miller was born in 1801 at Velindre near
Llandovery,
Carmarthenshire,
South Wales. He was educated at
St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1826 as fifth wrangler. He became a Fellow there in 1829. For a few years Miller was occupied as a college tutor and during this time he published treatises on
hydrostatics and
hydrodynamics. Miller also gave special attention to
crystallography, and at 31 years old, on the resignation of
William Whewell he succeeded in 1832 to the
professorship of mineralogy, a post he held until 1870. Miller's chief work, on
Crystallography, was published in 1839. Miller died in 1880 in
Cambridge, England. ==Family==