Colin Maclaurin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Colin Maclaurin | |
 Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746)
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| Born | February, 1698 Kilmodan, Cowal, Argyllshire, Scotland |
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| Died | June 14, 1746 Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Residence |  Scotland |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Fields | Mathematician |
| Institutions | University of Aberdeen University of Edinburgh |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow |
| Academic advisors | Robert Simson |
| Notable students | Robert Adam |
| Known for | Euler–Maclaurin formula Maclaurin's inequality |
| Notable awards | Académie des Sciences, Grand Prize |
| Religious stance | Presbyterian |
Colin Maclaurin (February, 1698 – June 14, 1746) was a Scottish mathematician.
He was born in Kilmodan, Argyll. His father, the Reverend John Maclaurin, was the minister of Glendaruel and author of an Irish version of the Psalms. Colin lost his father in infancy, and his mother before he was nine years old, and was educated under the care of his uncle, the Reverend Daniel Maclaurin, minister of Kilfinnan. He entered the University of Glasgow at age eleven, not unusual at the time; but graduating MA by successfully defending a thesis on the Power of Gravity at age 14. After graduation he remained at Glasgow to study divinity for a period, and in 1717, aged nineteen, after a competition which lasted for ten days, he was elected professor of mathematics at Marischal College in the University of Aberdeen. He held the record as the world's youngest professor until March 2008.[1]
In the vacations of 1719 and 1721 he went to London, where he became acquainted with Sir Isaac Newton, Dr. Hoadley, Dr. Samuel Clarke, and Martin Folkes, and other eminent philosophers, and was admitted a member of the Royal Society.
In 1722, having provided a competent person to attend to his class for a time at Aberdeen, he travelled on the Continent as tutor to George Hume, the son of Alexander Hume, 2nd Earl of Marchmont; and during their time in Lorraine, he wrote his essay on the Percussion of Bodies, which gained the prize of the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1724. Upon the death of his pupil at Montpellier he returned to Aberdeen.
In 1725 he was appointed deputy to the mathematical professor at Edinburgh, James Gregory (brother of David Gregory and nephew of the more famous James Gregory), upon the recommendation of Isaac Newton. Newton was so impressed with his work, he actually offered to pay Maclaurin's salary. On November 3 of that year Maclaurin succeeded Gregory. Maclaurin is credited with raising the character of that university as a school of science.
The first terms of the "Maclaurin series" for some trigonometric functions had been given by Madhava of Sangamagrama in fourteenth century India. The series was also developed and published by James Gregory, but Maclaurin was not aware of this and published it in Methodus incrementorum directa et inversa. Independently from Euler, he discovered the "Euler–Maclaurin formula".
In 1733, he married Anne Stewart, the daughter of Walter Stewart, the Solicitor General for Scotland, by whom he had seven children.
He actively opposed the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 and superintended the operations necessary for the defence of Edinburgh against the Highland army, but upon their entry into the city, he had to flee to York, where he was invited by the Archbishop of York to reside with him.
On his journey south, he fell from his horse, and the fatigue, anxiety, and cold to which he was exposed on that occasion laid the foundations of dropsy. He returned to Edinburgh after the Jacobite army marched south, but died soon after his return.
He is buried at Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh.
Some of his important works are:
- Geometria Organica - 1720
- De Linearum Geometricarum Proprietatibus - 1720
- Treatise on Fluxions - 1742 (763 pages in two volumes. The first systematic exposition of Newton's methods.)
- Treatise on Algebra - 1748 (two years after his death.)
- Account of Newton's Discoveries - Incomplete upon his death and published in 1750 or 1748 (sources disagree.)
Mathematician and MIT President Richard Cockburn Maclaurin is from the same family.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ David McNeill. "University appoints world's youngest professor", The Independent, 2008-05-01.
[edit] Sources
- Anderson, William, The Scottish Nation, Edinburgh, 1867, vol.VII, p.37.
- Ball, W. W. Rouse (1908). A Short Account of the History of Mathematics, 4th edition, pp.384–387. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- Overview of Colin Maclaurin. Gazetteer for Scotland. University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- Friedman, Erich. Colin Maclaurin. Periodic Table of Mathematicians. Stetson University. Retrieved on 2008-01-20.
- O'Connor, John J. & Robertson, Edmund F., “Colin Maclaurin”, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
- Sageng, Erik, 2005, "A treatise on fluxions" in Grattan-Guiness, I., ed., Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics. Elsevier: 143-58.
- Tweddle, Ian (1998 November). "The prickly genius—Colin Maclaurin (1698–1746)" (PDF). The Mathematical Gazette 82 (495): pp.373–378. Leicester: Mathematical Association. doi:.
