A Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary by Charles Hutton
Born into a Newcastle coal mining family, Charles Hutton (1737 1823) displayed mathematical ability from an early age. He rose to become professor of mathematics at the Royal Military Academy and foreign secretary of the Royal Society. First published in 1795 6, this two-volume illustrated encyclopaedia aimed to supplement the great generalist reference works of the Enlightenment by focusing on philosophical and mathematical subjects; the coverage ranges across mathematics, astronomy, natural philosophy and engineering. Almost a century old, the last comparable reference work in English was John Harris' Lexicon Technicum. Hutton's work contains many historical and biographical entries, often with bibliographies, including many for continental analytical mathematicians who would have been relatively unfamiliar to British readers. These features make Hutton's Dictionary a particularly valuable record of eighteenth-century science and mathematics. Volume 1 ranges from abacist (a user of an abacus) to the English physician and Newtonian scientist James Jurin.
Charles Hutton (1732-1823) was an eminent mathematician and distinguished figure in the Royal Society (he was elected a fellow in 1774 and held the position of Foreign Secretary from 1779 to 1783). Throughout his life he contributed extensively to scientific periodicals and submitted many important papers to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. Huttons experiments and research included the significant computation of the mean density of the earth based on Nevil Maskelynes observations. His other works included a paper on ballistics, The Force of Fired Gunpowder and the Velocity of Cannon Balls, for which he received the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1778. He held the position of Professor of Mathematics at Woolwich Military Academy for thirty-four years and wrote numerous mathematics textbooks. In 1781 Hutton published Mathematical Tables for the Board of Longitude and he later produced the important Course of Mathematics (1798-1801), which was subsequently published in various editons over a period of fifty years.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781108077712 |
| ISBN 10 | 1108077714 |
| Title | A Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary |
| Author | Charles Hutton |
| Series | A Mathematical And Philosophical Dictionary 2 Volume Set |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2015-01-29 |
| Number of pages | 814 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |