Sir Peter Redford Scott Lang VD

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 letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1850–1926) was a Scottish mathematician and Regius Professor at the University of St Andrews. In the 1880s he instituted “Common Dinners” to bring the students together for joint meals (often referred to as “commies”). This had a major impact upon student social life and was thereafter adopted by several Scottish universities. In memory of this the University of St Andrews holds an annual Scott Lang Dinner.

Life

He was born in Edinburgh on 8 October 1850, the youngest of six children of Barbara Turnbull (née Cochrane) and Robert Laidlaw Lang (b.1808), an advocate’s clerk. They lived at 125 Fountainbridge in the south-west of the city. He was educated at the Edinburgh Institution (now known as

Stewarts Melville College Stewart's Melville College (SMC) is an independent day and boarding school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Classes are all boys in the 1st to 5th years and co-educational in Sixth (final) year. It has a roll of about 750 pupils. The school is twinned w ...

) and then studied mathematics and natural philosophy (physics) at the University of Edinburgh. His university studies were interspersed with training as a life assurance clerk. He graduated MA BSc in 1872 and began assisting in lectures in natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. In 1878 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh 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 established i ...

. His proposers were

Sir Robert Christison ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only ...

, Peter Guthrie Tait, David Stevenson, and John Hutton Balfour. In 1879 he moved to the University of St Andrews as Professor of Mathematics. During his time at St Andrews he purchased a house on South Street. He rose to also be Dean of the Faculty of Arts within the University. He was a

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in the 1st Fifeshire Royal Garrison Artillery, a volunteer battalion based at the no 7 battery at

Anstruther Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther ...

. He had served as a volunteer for at least 20 years, gaining the Victorian Officer’s Decoration (VD) in 1900. He was granted the honorary rank of Colonel on 25 October 1902. He was knighted in 1921 by King George V on the point of his retiral. In 1922 the University of St Andrews awarded him an honorary doctorate (LLD). He died at home in St Andrews on 5 July 1926. He is buried with his wife and daughter in St Andrews Cathedral Churchyard. The grave lies on a wall to the south of the central tower.

Family

He was married to Alice Mary Dickson (1858-1932) from Colinton. They had one daughter, Edith Mary Valentine Lang (1880-1936).Scotsman (newspaper) obituary: 7 July 1926

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lang, Peter Redford Scott 1850 births 1926 deaths Academics from Edinburgh British mathematicians Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of St Andrews Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Knights Bachelor