Editing David Gregory (mathematician)

{{Short description|Scottish mathematician and astronomer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = David Gregory
| image             = david gregory mathematician.jpg
| caption           =
| birth_date        = 3 June 1659
| birth_place       = [[Aberdeen]], Scotland
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1708|10|10|1659|6|3|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Maidenhead]], Berkshire, England
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       = Scottish
| ethnicity         = 
| field             = Mathematics
| work_institutions = [[University of Edinburgh]]<br>[[Balliol College, Oxford]]
| alma_mater        = [[Marischal College]], [[University of Aberdeen]]<br>[[University of Leiden]]
| doctoral_advisor  = 
| notable_students  = [[John Keill]]<br>[[John Craig (mathematician)|John Craig]]
| known_for         = Development of infinite series
| prizes            = 
| footnotes         = He is the nephew of [[James Gregory (astronomer and mathematician)|James Gregory]].
| signature         =  
}}
'''David Gregory''' (originally spelt '''Gregorie''') [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (3 June 1659<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1098/rsnr.1970.0026 | title=David Gregory's inaugural lecture at Oxford | journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London | year=1970 | volume=25 | issue=2 | pages=143–178 | s2cid=143551983 | doi-access=free }}</ref> – 10 October 1708) was a Scottish mathematician and astronomer. He was professor of mathematics at the [[University of Edinburgh]], and later [[Savilian Professor of Astronomy]] at the [[University of Oxford]], and a proponent of [[Isaac Newton]]'s ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica|Principia]]''.

==Biography==
[[File:Gregory, David – Astronomiae physicae et geometricae elementa, 1726 – BEIC 1496003.jpg|thumb|''Astronomiae physicae et geometricae elementa'', 1726]]

The fourth of the fifteen children of [[David Gregory (physician)|David Gregorie]], a doctor from Kinnairdy, Banffshire, and Jean Walker of Orchiston, David was born in Upper Kirkgate, Aberdeen. The nephew of astronomer and mathematician [[James Gregory (astronomer and mathematician)|James Gregory]], David, like his influential uncle before him, studied at [[Aberdeen Grammar School]] and [[Marischal College]] ([[University of Aberdeen]]), from 1671 to 1675. The Gregorys were [[Jacobitism|Jacobites]] and left Scotland to escape religious discrimination. Young David visited several countries on the continent, including the Netherlands (where he began studying medicine at [[Leiden University]]) and France, and did not return to Scotland until 1683.

On 28 November 1683, Gregory graduated M.A. at [[University of Edinburgh]], and in October 1683 he became Chair of Mathematics at University of Edinburgh. He was "the first to openly teach the doctrines of the ''Principia'', in a public seminary...in those days this was a daring innovation."<ref name=ES>[http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/gregory_david.htm David Gregory] from Significant Scots at electricscotland.com.</ref>

Gregory decided to leave for England where, in 1691, he was elected [[Savilian Professor of Astronomy]] at the University of Oxford, due in large part to the influence of [[Isaac Newton]]. The same year he was elected to be a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]]. In 1692, he was elected a Fellow of [[Balliol College, Oxford]].

Gregory spent several days with [[Isaac Newton]] in 1694, discussing revisions for a second edition of Newton's [[The system of the world|Principia]]. Gregory made notes of these discussions, but the second edition of 1713 was not due to Gregory.<ref>{{cite book | title=Never at Rest |first=Richard S. | last=Westfall|authorlink=Richard S. Westfall|year=1980|page=506|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}}</ref>

In 1695 he published ''Catoptricae et dioptricae sphaericae elementa'' which addressed [[chromatic aberration]] and the possibility of its correction with [[achromatic lens]].

In 1705 Gregory became an Honorary Fellow of the [[Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh]]. At the [[Union of 1707]], he was given the responsibility of re-organising the [[Scottish Mint]]. He was an uncle of philosopher [[Thomas Reid]].

Gregory and his wife, Elizabeth Oliphant, had nine children, but seven died while still children.

On his death in [[Maidenhead]], Berkshire he was buried in Maidenhead churchyard.

==Works==
[[File:Hand-written note on game theory, from the papers of David Gregory.jpg|thumb|Hand-written note on game theory, from the papers of David Greory.]]
* 1684: [https://books.google.com/books?id=tJU_AAAAcAAJ ''Exercitatio geometrica de dimensione figurarum''], via [[Google Books]]
* 1695: [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/color/id/31597 ''Catoptricæ et dioptricæ sphæricæ elementa''] - digital facsimile from the [[Linda Hall Library]]
* 1703: (editor) ''Euclides quae supersunt omnia'' (collected works of Euclid)
* {{Cite book|author=Gregory, David|title=Astronomiae physicae et geometricae elementa|volume=|publisher=Marc Michel Bousquet & C.|location=Genève|year=1726|language=la|url=https://gutenberg.beic.it/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=1496003}}
* 1745: ([[Colin Maclaurin]] editor) [https://archive.org/details/atreatisepracti00greggoog Treatise of Practical Geometry] via [[Internet Archive]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
{{EB1911 poster|Gregory (family)#David Gregory 2|David Gregory}}
* {{Cite book|author=Gregory, David|title=Astronomiae physicae et geometricae elementa|volume=|publisher=|location=Oxford|year=1702|language=la|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_b6WHgpAkGLMC/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater}}
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Gregory_David}}
* [https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/113ba797-f90d-3607-a113-b0297f6b13d5 Lectures on Algebra ascribed to David Gregory, 18th century] from [[Archives Hub]] by [[Jisc]]
* [https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/4c0b73d6-ea01-3efd-87dd-d8076488e221 Papers of David Gregory (1661–1708)] from Archives Hub

{{Authority control}}

{{Savilian Professors of Astronomy}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, David}}
[[Category:1659 births]]
[[Category:1708 deaths]]
[[Category:Scientists from Aberdeen]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Scottish astronomers]]
[[Category:Scottish mathematicians]]
[[Category:Scottish scholars and academics]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Savilian Professors of Astronomy]]
[[Category:People educated at Aberdeen Grammar School]]
[[Category:Leiden University alumni]]
[[Category:Scottish Episcopalians]]
[[Category:17th-century astronomers]]
[[Category:18th-century British astronomers]]