Concept

Roger Cotes

Summary

Roger Cotes (10 July 1682 – 5 June 1716) was an English mathematician, known for working closely with Isaac Newton by proofreading the second edition of his famous book, the Principia, before publication. He also invented the quadrature formulas known as Newton–Cotes formulas, and made a geometric argument that can be interpreted as a logarithmic version of Euler's formula. He was the first Plumian Professor at Cambridge University from 1707 until his death. Cotes was born in Burbage, Leicestershire. His parents were Robert, the rector of Burbage, and his wife, Grace, née Farmer. Roger had an elder brother, Anthony (born 1681), and a younger sister, Susanna (born 1683), both of whom died young. At first Roger attended Leicester School, where his mathematical talent was recognised. His aunt Hannah had married Rev. John Smith, and Smith took on the role of tutor to encourage Roger's talent. The Smiths' son, Robert Smith, became a close associate of Roger Cotes throughout his life. Cotes later studied at St Paul's School in London and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1699. He graduated BA in 1702 and MA in 1706. Roger Cotes's contributions to modern computational methods lie heavily in the fields of astronomy and mathematics. Cotes began his educational career with a focus on astronomy. He became a fellow of Trinity College in 1707, and at age 26 he became the first Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy. On his appointment to professor, he opened a subscription list in an effort to provide an observatory for Trinity. Unfortunately, the observatory was still unfinished when Cotes died, and was demolished in 1797. In correspondence with Isaac Newton, Cotes designed a heliostat telescope with a mirror revolving by clockwork. He recomputed the solar and planetary tables of Giovanni Domenico Cassini and John Flamsteed, and he intended to create tables of the moon's motion, based on Newtonian principles. Finally, in 1707 he formed a school of physical sciences at Trinity in partnership with William Whiston.

Official source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Cotes

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.