David Gregory (mathematician)
David Gregory ( born June 3, 1659 Aberdeen, Scotland, † October 10, 1708 in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England) was a professor of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh and Professor of Astronomy at the University of Oxford. He was a commentator on the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton.
Life
David Gregory was a nephew of the astronomer and mathematician James Gregory and the fourth of 15 children of a doctor, the squire in Kinnairdy was. He probably went to Aberdeen to school and started in 1671 to study at the Marischal College, Aberdeen, and studied until 1675th However, there is no evidence of a degree. Also in 1675 his uncle died, James Gregory, and David Gregory began his mathematical estate which his father had inherited to study. 1679 he left Scotland and visited various countries on the continent. He studied medicine in Leiden and the mathematical works of Johann Hudde, Pierre de Fermat and René Descartes. 1681 he returned to the UK and visited the Royal Society in London, where he saw the reflecting telescope of Isaac Newton and the air pump by Robert Boyle, among others. He then studied at the Heimatgut in Scotland again and was in 1683 appointed professor of mathematics at the University of Edinburgh, held the same chair his uncle.
He taught in Edinburgh geometry, optics, mechanics and hydrostatics and was one of the first high school teacher who spread the teachings of Newton's lectures. He entered into correspondence with Newton, when he sent a paper on infinite series ( and thereby extensively praised him ) and 1687 shall presently give him a copy of the Principia. Probably the copy in the Moscow State University, which is provided with many notes and 1718 to Moscow from the library of came with Gregory friend Archibald Pitcairne.
In 1690 he left Scotland in times of political and religious unrest ( he belonged to the members of the Anglican Church Scottish Episcopal Church and in Scotland the Presbyterians at the time was declared the official church in Scotland ) and moved to England, where he in 1691 to Savilian was appointed professor of astronomy at the University of Oxford. This he had large part due to the influence of Isaac Newton. The Astronomer Royal John Flamsteed, who had also made hopes went away empty-handed. Flamsteed was at odds with Newton it came up that he was regarded as not very religious, but this was true of Gregory. That same year, Gregory was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1695 he married. Again, under the mediation of Newton, he was a mathematics teacher in 1699 the young Duke of Gloucester ( again in competition with Flamsteed ). , The son later Queen Anne, but he died a year later In 1704 he moved to London. Also on mediation of Newton, he became in 1707 director of the Scottish coin after the personal union of England and Scotland (a position Newton held in London ) and was responsible for the introduction of English currency in Scotland. He also calculated the exact amount of compensation that was awarded the Scottish Parliament from compensation ( equivalent) for the acquisition of part of the total public debt of Great Britain. Most recently, he was plagued by illness and died on the way back from a spa in Bath on the way to London.
He built an achromatic telescope and focused on mathematics pedagogy, where he pleaded for teaching in English and practical applications. 1702 He published a popular scientific account of Newton's astronomical theories and supported Newton in a dispute with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
In 1703 he was in Oxford a complete edition of the works of Euclid ( Greek / Latin ). He built up the preparatory work of his predecessor as Savilian Professor Edward Bernard (1638-1696) on, who had planned to bring out a complete edition of classical ancient mathematicians, and Henry Savile. This Oxford edition of Euclid was one of the best editions before Heiberg in the 19th century. He was assisted by the librarian of the Bodleian Library John Hudson. The Greek text based but mostly on the Basel edition of 1533.
Writings
- Exercitatio geometria de dimensione curvarum, 1684
- Catoptricae et dioptricae sphericae elementary, 1695
- Astronomiae physicae et geometricae elementary. 1702nd
Its geometry lectures in Edinburgh were included in the Treatise of Practical Geometry by Colin MacLaurin 1745.