Robert Smith (c. 16 October 1689 – 2 February 1768) was an English mathematician.

Life

Smith was probably born at Lea near Gainsborough, the son of John Smith, the rector of

Gate Burton Gate Burton (sometimes called Burton Gate), is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated south from the town of Gainsborough. The population is listed under the civil parish of Marton. ...

, Lincolnshire and his wife Hannah Cotes. After attending Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Gainsborough (now

Queen Elizabeth's High School Queen Elizabeth's High School is a mixed grammar school in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. The school, established in 1983, but with a timeline to 1589, is an amalgamation of the previous Gainsborough High School and Queen Elizabeth's Gr ...

) he entered

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a 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 college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, in 1708, and becoming minor fellow in 1714, major fellow in 1715 and senior fellow in 1739, was chosen Master in 1742, in succession to

Richard Bentley Richard Bentley FRS (; 27 January 1662 – 14 July 1742) was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. Considered the "founder of historical philology", Bentley is widely credited with establishing the English school of Helle ...

. From 1716 to 1760 he was Plumian Professor of

Astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

, and he died in the Master's Lodge at Trinity. In February 1719 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

. Besides editing two works by his cousin, Roger Cotes, who was his predecessor in the Plumian chair, he published ''A Compleat System of Opticks'' in 1738, which gained him the sobriquet of Old Focus, and ''Harmonics, or the Philosophy of Musical Sounds'' in 1749. Smith never married but lived with his unmarried sister Elzimar (1683–1758) in the lodge at Trinity College. Although he is often portrayed as a rather reclusive character,

John Byrom John Byrom or John Byrom of Kersal or John Byrom of Manchester FRS (29 February 1692 – 26 September 1763) was an English poet, the inventor of a revolutionary system of shorthand and later a significant landowner. He is most remembered as t ...

's journal shows that in the 1720s and 1730s Smith could be quite sociable. Yet ill health, particularly gout, took its toll and severely inhibited his academic work and social activities. He died at the lodge on 2 February 1768, and on 8 February he was buried in Trinity College Chapel, the funeral oration being delivered by Thomas Zouch. According to the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Smith helped to spread

Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a " natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the g ...

's ideas in Europe and "Newton's successes in optics and mechanics dominated Smith's scientific career".

The Smith Fund

In his will Smith left £3500 South Sea stock to the University of Cambridge. The net income on the fund is annually divided equally between the

Smith's Prize The Smith's Prize was the name of each of two prizes awarded annually to two research students in mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1769. Following the reorganization in 1998, they are now awarded under the ...

and the stipend of the Plumian Professor.

Books

Smith, Robert – Compleat system of opticks, 1767 – BEIC 3889504

* Robert Smith, ''Harmonics, or, The Philosophy of Musical Sounds,'' Printed by J. Bentham, and sold by W. Thurlbourn, 1749. * *

References

The Master of Trinity
at Trinity College, Cambridge *

External links

"Robert Smith, author of 'A Compleat System of Opticks', 1738."
Peter Abrahams, ed. The history of the telescope & the binocular (2005)

Enharmonic chamber organ, Thomas Parker. London, c.1765. Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments, University of Edinburgh.

Grant O'Brien. Conference on the Historical Background to the New "Handel" Organ in St Cecilia's Hall. Russell Collection of Early Keyboard Instruments, University of Edinburgh. (1998)

from ''Harmonics'' (1749) * * * Robert Smith's (1778
''The elementary parts of Dr. Smith's compleat system of opticks''
– digital facsimile from the

Linda Hall Library The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Robert 18th-century English mathematicians English music theorists Masters of Trinity College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society 1689 births 1768 deaths People educated at Queen Elizabeth's High School Vice-Chancellors of the University of Cambridge Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge Plumian Professors of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy