Peter Pinkerton

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". ...

(1870–1930) was a Scottish mathematician who served as Rector of Glasgow High School.

Life

He was born on 8 June 1870 in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, the sixth son of John Pinkerton (born 1830) an Irish-born boiler-maker, and his wife, Mary Harvey (born 1835) from

Orkney Orkney (), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plural name the Orkneys is also sometimes used, but locals now consider it outdated. Part of the Northern Isles along with Shetland, ...

. He was educated at

Kilmarnock Academy Kilmarnock Academy (Scottish Gaelic: ''Acadamaidh Chille Mheàrnaig''), formerly Kilmarnock Burgh School, is an 11–17 co-educational state-funded secondary school in Kilmarnock, Scotland, currently serving in its third location on Sutherland D ...

then studied Mathematics at

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

graduating MA in 1890. In 1893 he became Mathematics Master at

Allan Glen's School Allan Glen's School was, for most of its existence, a State school, local authority, selective Secondary education, secondary school for boys in Glasgow, Scotland, charging nominal fees for tuition. It was founded by the Allan Glen's Endowment ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. In 1899 he moved to

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

then in 1903 returned to Scotland to teach at

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 ...

. In 1905 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 ...

. His proposers were

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (26 June 182417 December 1907), was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer. Born in Belfast, he was the professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, where ...

, William Jack, Andrew Gray and

George Alexander Gibson George Alexander Gibson (27 January 1854 – 18 January 1913) was a Scottish physician, medical author, and amateur geologist. As an author, he wrote on the diverse fields of both geology and heart disease. The Gibson Memorial Lecture is named ...

. At this time he lived at 36 Morningside Grove in southwest Edinburgh.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1910 Glasgow University awarded him two honorary doctorates: DSc in 1909 and LLD in 1930. From 1914 until death he was Rector of Glasgow High School. He died in

on 21 November 1930.

Family

His wife died early in life but they had one son, Dr Herbert Harvey Pinkerton (1901–1982) a physician and noted amateur golfer.

Publications

*''Elements of Analytical Geometry'' (1911)

References

1870 births 1930 deaths People from Kilmarnock Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scottish mathematicians Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{UK-mathematician-stub