John Farey, Sr.

John Farey, Sr. (* 1766 in Woburn, Bedfordshire, † January 6, 1826 in London ) was an English geologist and author. Today he is best known by his namesake Farey sequence which he examined in an article in the Philosophical Magazine in 1816.

John Farey was formed in Halifax in the county of Yorkshire. After his training, he moved to London and married Sophia Hubert. 1791 their first child, John Farey, Jr. was born, later they had another eight children, of whom but two died shortly after birth. John Farey began in 1792 for the fifth Duke of Bedford to work on its goods in Woburn. After the Duke's death he moved back to London. There he was in 1805 as a successor to Arthur Young Secretary of the Smithfield Club. His work as a geologist and surveyor was demanded by many landowners throughout England, his geological work was important for localization and development of new coal seams and mineral fields, according to which, because of industrialization, there was a strong demand.

John Farey was a prolific writer and wrote according to recent research, more than 270 publications, with the catalog of scientific publications of the Royal Society, however, only about a quarter of them lists. He was the author of many articles of Rees ' Cyclopedia ( Encyclopedia and Dictionary ) and wrote the three -volume work General View of the Agriculture and Minerals of Derbyshire.