Charles Hutton

Charles Hutton ( born August 14, 1737 Newcastle -upon- Tyne, † January 27, 1823 in London ) was an English mathematician. He was known during his lifetime as a writer of school books and textbooks in England.

Hutton was the son of a mine overseer. An accident in his childhood, after his elbow was hindered, prevented him from embarking on the same path. He became a teacher, visited Newcastle Evening courses in mathematics and opened in 1760 even a school for teaching mathematics and gave private lessons. Among his pupils was, among others, later Lord Chancellor John Scott. He published in 1764 his first arithmetic textbook ( The School Masters Guide or a complete system of practical arithmetic ) and began teacher continued and train. 1767 was followed by A Treatise on mensuration. At the same time he worked for the city of Newcastle as a surveyor (Map of Newcastle and around 1770) and published in 1772 a book on bridge building. In 1773 he won the competition for the position of mathematics teacher at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. A real estate speculation in the transfer of the Royal Academy made ​​him the mid- 1780s wealthy. In 1807 he went to the Royal Military Academy in retirement and moved to London. Shortly before his death he advised even for the construction of the 1824 -built New London Bridge.

In 1774 he led under the direction of Nevil Maskelyne astronomers by the Schiehallion experiment. Here, a regularly shaped mountain in northern Scotland was measured (Charles Mason had the Schiehallion for selected) and whose gravity effect examined in the perpendicular direction, which one could estimate the mass of the Earth. In the course of surveying Hutton invented contour lines to bring more order into his data. However, a calculation of the rock density of this mountain to 2.6 to 2.8 g / cm ³ likely come from his contemporaries James Hutton, a famous geologist (see)

In 1774 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and began in the Philosophical Transactions of publishing. In 1778 he received for his services, the Copley Medal, in particular for an essay on ballistics in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. In 1779 he was Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society, but was forced in 1783 by President Joseph Banks to resign, which then led to considerable controversy within society.

1773 to 1818 he was editor of Ladies Diary, in which he also published in recreational mathematics. In 1775 he published a five -volume edition of extracts from the Ladies Diary.

From 1781 he published mathematical panel works for the Board of Longitude. In 1795 he published his most famous book during his lifetime Mathematical and philosophical dictionary in two volumes, a compendium of mathematics. He also published books about land surveying and conic sections, and from 1798 to 1801 his lectures at the Royal Military Academy ( A course of mathematics for cadets of the Royal Military Academy ), which was also used at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

He was married twice, had two daughters and a son.

Works (selection)

  • A Course in Mathematics. Samuel Campbell 1812 ( online copies: Volume 1, Volume 2 )
  • The Principles of Bridges. Edinburgh & London 1772 ( online copy )
  • Mathematical Tables. 1785 ( online copy of the extended edition of 1834)
  • Elements of conic sections. 1787 ( online copy )
  • A Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary. 1815 ( online copies: Volume 1, Volume 2 )
  • The Ladies ' Diary or Woman 's Almanack. 1787 ( online copy )
  • The Compendious Measurer. 1807 ( online copy )
  • The Diarian Miscellany. 5 volumes ( online copy of Volume 1 )
  • A complete treatise of practical arithmetic and book -keeping. T. Ross & Sons 1800 ( online copy )
  • A Treatise on Mensuration: Both in Theory and Practice. 1770 ( online copy )
  • An Account of the Calculations made ​​from the Survey And the Measures Taken at Schehallien in Order to Ascertain the Mean Density of the Earth. J. Nichols 1779 ( online copy )
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