Duncan Farquharson Gregory (13 April 181323 February 1844) was a Scottish mathematician.

Education

Gregory was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

on 13 April 1813, the youngest son of Isabella Macleod (1772–1847) and James Gregory (1753–1821). He was taught initially by his mother, and in October 1825 he was sent to the

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, Stockbridge, is now part of the Senior Scho ...

, and after two years of study spent a winter at a private academy in Geneva. While there his mathematical talent attracted attention, specifically geometry. On his return to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, he attended classes at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, working at chemistry, making experiments in polarised light, and advancing in the higher parts of mathematics, guided by Professor Wallace, his mentor. In October 1833 he commenced residence at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. He earned fifth wrangler in the tripos of 1837. He took the degrees of BA in 1838 and MA in 1841. He was elected fellow of Trinity College in October 1840.

Mathematics

Gregory was initially recognised for his essay ''The Foundations of Algebra'' presented to the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

in 1838. On completing his degrees, he served as Moderator in 1842, examiner through May 1843 and was also appointed assistant tutor. At the suggestion of his friend, Archibald Smith, he founded and was the first editor of the '' Cambridge Mathematical Journal'' in November 1837, helped by

Robert Leslie Ellis Robert Leslie Ellis (25 August 1817 – 12 May 1859) was an English polymath, remembered principally as a mathematician and editor of the works of Francis Bacon. Biography Robert Leslie Ellis was the youngest of six children of Francis Ellis (17 ...

who succeeded him as editor. Many of his articles for the ''CMJ'' were collected in ''The Mathematical Writings of D. F. Gregory'', edited by his friend and colleague William Walton. In 1841 he published his ''Examples of the Processes of the Differential and Integral Calculus'', which expanded the earlier work of

John Herschel Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor and experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work. ...

, George Peacock and

Charles Babbage Charles Babbage (; 26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English polymath. A mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer, Babbage originated the concept of a digital programmable computer. Babbage is considered ...

to include the mathematics used to describe discontinuities observed in

heat transfer Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the generation, use, conversion, and exchange of thermal energy (heat) between physical systems. Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as thermal conduction, ...

explored by the French mathematician

Joseph Fourier Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier (; ; 21 March 1768 – 16 May 1830) was a French mathematician and physicist born in Auxerre, Burgundy and best known for initiating the investigation of Fourier series, which eventually developed into Fourier analys ...

, and the theory of undulatory light, a topic familiar to him. He was elected a member of the

Philological Society The Philological Society, or London Philological Society, is the oldest learned society in Great Britain dedicated to the study of language as well as a registered charity. The current Society was established in 1842 to "investigate and promote ...

12 May 1843.

Other disciplines

Acting as tutor, Gregory was also an examiner of his college and lectured occasionally in chemistry. Two of his papers explored the physics of

pendulum A pendulum is a device made of a weight suspended from a pivot so that it can swing freely. When a pendulum is displaced sideways from its resting, equilibrium position, it is subject to a restoring force due to gravity that will accelerate i ...

s ( clockmakers) and were written with Mr. Archibald Smith. (''On the Sympathy of Pendulums'', See pp. 175–86, Mathematical Writings of D.F. Gregory.)

Illness and death

Gregory's circumstances did not allow him to accept the Mathematical Chair at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

offered in 1841. Illness overtook him the next year. Incapacitated, he left Cambridge in the spring of 1843, and died in Edinburgh the following February, at 30 years of age. Gregory is buried with his siblings in his parents burial plot in the south-west corner of Canongate Kirkyard, next to

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...

Family

Gregory never married. He was the youngest son of eleven children. His older brother

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

, like his father, was a chemist and physician. His great-great-grandfather James Gregory, the mathematician, designed the Gregorian telescope. James's nephew, David Gregory, was appointed a professor of mathematics at the

in 1683. Gregory lived together with his brothers and their wives in a huge Georgian townhouse, 10 Ainslie Place, on the Moray Estate in the western

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of Edinburgh, originally their father's house.

Published works

* Presentations made to the

Cambridge Philosophical Society The Cambridge Philosophical Society (CPS) is a scientific society at the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1819. The name derives from the medieval use of the word philosophy to denote any research undertaken outside the fields of law ...

.Proceedings C.P.S., ''The Foundation and Early years of the Society'' by John Willis Clark, delivered 27 October 1890, pp. xliii. xliv. (Cambridge, 1892). *# 'On the real nature of symbolical algebra' – 14 May 1838. *# 'On the logarithms of negative quantities' – 26 November 1838. *# 'On photogenic drawings' – 22 April 1839 *# 'On chemical classification' – 6 May 1839
''The Mathematical Writings of D. F. Gregory, M.A.''
Ed. W. Walton, (Cambridge, 1865).

Notes

References

*
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
vol. vii. October 28, 1889May 30, 1892, (Cambridge, 1892). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Duncan Farquharson 1813 births 1844 deaths People from Aberdeen People educated at Edinburgh Academy Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Scottish mathematicians Burials at the Canongate Kirkyard