William Wallace (mathematician)

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William Wallace (born September 23, 1768 in Dysart , † April 28, 1843 in Edinburgh ) was a Scottish mathematician .

Life

William Wallace grew up in Dysart until he was 16, where he trained as a bookbinder. In 1784 he moved with his family to Edinburgh and initially worked as a bookbinder. During this time he taught himself mathematics on his own. He later earned his living as a private tutor and attended mathematics lectures at the University of Edinburgh , but without being enrolled as a student. In 1794 he became a math teacher at the Perth Academy. In the same year he married and from his marriage had three daughters and one son.

By a recommendation from John Playfair he received a professorship at the Royal Military College (Great Marlow) in 1804. After the death of John Playfair, he took over his chair at the University of Edinburgh, where he earned the reputation of a good teacher. Mathematician Mary Somerville was one of his students . In 1838 he withdrew into private life due to health problems, although he continued to work as a journalist. In 1804 he was elected a member ( Fellow ) of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

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Wallace mainly worked on geometric issues and discovered the Simson straight line in 1799 , which was mistakenly attributed to Robert Simson . In 1807 he proved a statement about polygons of equal area, which is known today as the Wallace – Bolyai – Gerwien theorem.

His most important contribution to mathematics in Britain, however, was not in the field of geometry, but in the fact that he was one of the first British mathematicians to advocate the further development of calculus in continental Europe in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland .

In addition to his specialist articles, Wallace also wrote several books and contributed to the Encyclopædia Britannica and the Edinburgh Encyclopedia . He also dealt with astronomy and developed the pantograph into an eidograph .

Works

  • A Geometrical Treatise on the Conic Sections with an Appendix Containing Formulas for their Quadrature . (1838)
  • Geometrical Theorems and Analytical Formulas with their application to the Solution of Certain Geodetical Problems and an Appendix . (1839)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e John J. O'Connor, Edmund F. Robertson :  William Wallace. In: MacTutor History of Mathematics archive .
  2. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 20, 2020 .
  3. ^ Ian Stewart: From Here to Infinity . Oxford University Press 1996 (3rd edition), ISBN 9780192832023 , p. 169 ( excerpt (Google) )
  4. ^ Gerard L'Estrange Turner: Nineteenth-Century Scientific Instruments . University of California Press 1983, ISBN 0520051602 , p. 280 ( excerpt (Google) )
personal data
SURNAME Wallace, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1768
PLACE OF BIRTH Dysart
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 1843
Place of death Edinburgh