Charles Tweedie

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(27 June 186814 September 1925) was a Scottish mathematician and mathematical historian.

Life

Tweedie was born in Swinton on 27 June 1868, the son of Charlotte Lugton (1836–1909) and George Tweedie (1837–1905) a schoolmaster originally from

Cleish Cleish is a rural hamlet off the B9097 between Crook of Devon and the M90 motorway, three miles south-west of Kinross in central Scotland. It lies in the historic county of Kinross-shire. At the last census (2011), the population of the civil ...

. He was from a large family, and his older brother, David Tweedie (b. 1865), was also a mathematician, who worked mainly in Egypt. He was educated at Swinton Parish School and then

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a Scottish education in the eighteenth ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. He won the Sibbald Scholarship to study mathematics and physics 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 ...

. Here he was trusted enough by Professor George Chrystal to assist with the editing of Chrystal's textbook on

algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

. Tweedie graduated with an MA BSc with honours in 1890. He won the Bruce of Grangehill Bursary which allowed him to undertake postgraduate study at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

1890/91 and

University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

1891/92. In the autumn of 1892 he became an assistant in the mathematics department at the University of Edinburgh under Professor Chrystal and became an official soon after, as Chrystal's right-hand man. He was elected a Fellow of 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 1897. His proposers were

George Chrystal George Chrystal FRSE FRS (8 March 1851 – 3 November 1911) was a Scottish mathematician. He is primarily known for his books on algebra and his studies of seiches (wave patterns in large inland bodies of water) which earned him a Gold Meda ...

Peter Guthrie Tait Peter Guthrie Tait (28 April 18314 July 1901) was a Scottish Mathematical physics, mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook ''Treatise on Natural Philosophy'', which he ...

Cargill Gilston Knott Cargill Gilston Knott FRS, FRSE LLD (30 June 1856 – 26 October 1922) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was a pioneer in seismological research. He spent his early career in Japan. He later became a Fellow of the Royal Society, ...

and

John Sturgeon Mackay John Sturgeon Mackay FRSE (1843–1914) was a Scottish mathematician and academic author. Life He was born on 22 October 1843 at Auchencairn near Kirkcudbright the son of John Mackay and his wife Jessie Sturgeon. The family moved to Perth earl ...

. He was President of the

Edinburgh Mathematical Society The Edinburgh Mathematical Society is a mathematical society for academics in Scotland. History The Society was founded in 1883 by a group of Edinburgh school teachers and academics, on the initiative of Alexander Yule Fraser FRSE and Andrew ...

1903–1904. He died in

on 14 September 1925. He was unmarried and had no children.

Publications

*''A Study of the Life and Writings of

Colin Maclaurin Colin Maclaurin (; ; February 1698 – 14 June 1746) was a Scottish mathematician who made important contributions to geometry and algebra. He is also known for being a child prodigy and holding the record for being the youngest professor. ...

'' (1915) *''The Geometrica Organica of

'' (1916) *'' James Stirling: A Sketch of his Life and Work'' (1922) *''Notes on James Gray'' (1924)

References

1868 births 1925 deaths People from the Scottish Borders People educated at George Watson's College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Scottish mathematicians Scottish biographers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{UK-mathematician-stub